The God Of Steel
by Rasputin Zero
Summary: Book 3: Fire. Chapter 3. Team Avatar's managed to sneak aboard a ferry to the Fire Nation, but a vengeful force doesn't want anyone on board getting there alive. On top of that, Aang's taken a spiritual turn for the worst. Rated T for creepiness. Complete
1. The Definition of Progress

**Avatar: The Last Airbender**

**Created by Michael Dante Dimartino and Bryan Konietzko**

**Book 3: Fire**

**Chapter 3: The God of Steel**

Light blue reflections shimmered against the walls of the cave. Small drops of water sent cavernous echoes cascading around the smooth granite rock of the chamber, and thin channels of water trickled in streams around the cavern like veins. The shallow pools set into the rock around the circumference of the chamber gave the place the look of a bee-hive, which was exactly what it was. Inside the pools there swam, oblivious, tiny little creatures, white pebbles with purple tendrils snaking behind them, swirling in an energetic dance of youth. Opposite the bright, circular entrance was an identically-structured darkened passageway, too narrow for humans to squeeze through, from which small channels of water snaked around to replenish the pools with fresh nutrients. The entire structure of the caverns was identical to a bee-hive, except considerably wetter, much less sticky, and on top of everything else a breathtakingly wondrous monument to everything that was good about nature.

Not that it stopped people searching for honey.

A watertight bag scooped up the contents of one of the nearby shallow pools, and a strong, muscled hand gripped the opening of the bag, quickly fastening it with rope. The man that the bag belonged to, a strong, brown-haired man who looked like he spent so much time scheming things that he'd never had a chance to bathe, smiled greedily from ear to ear. Accompanying him were two companions, one a tall, lean, meticulous man, and the other a shorter, wiry, paranoid man who jumped at every drip that fell from the cavern walls.

"I fail to see how this is supposed to make up for our sunken spice smuggling operation," the tall one was unafraid to speak his mind even as he prepared a bag to stuff in another lot of swimming tendril-things.

"How do you feel about retiring at 25?" the gleaming, unclean man was in an unconquerably good mood.

"But…I am 25…" the tall one paused to wonder where this was going.

"Exactly," the unclean one chuckled, rubbing the side of the bag as if it held pure gold, "Dao my friend, feast your eyes on the spawning pools of the Shachihoko. The price these little critters fetch on the black market is extortionate. They're some of the rarest creatures in the world, surrounded by all kinds of myths and tales. People will pay a fortune just for one, and here we are getting dozens of them! I dare say I've outdone myself…"

"That's not really an achievement, Zei," Dao drawled, scooping up his own bag of young Shachihoko, "and I'm fairly certain a fair few number of people would have tried to raid the Yalu Pillars by now if small fortunes were such easy pickings."

"This is a terrible idea. A terrible, terrible, _awful, hideously bad idea_!" the short one waved his battle-axe in various directions, sweating profusely and wanting, with worryingly schizophrenic intensity, to either run away as fast as possible or skewer as many people in his way as possible, whichever one made him feel more secure about himself, "we'regonnabegilletedwe'regonnabegilletedwe'regonnabegilletedwe'regonnabe…"

"No one's gonna be gilleted, sheesh…" Zei laid his bag on the ground to ready another bag, "and if anyone does get gilleted, Ze, it'll be because you're the one who gillets them, so relax."

"Don't tell me to relax!" Ze wailed, "my mama used to tell me stories about this place, about the creatures who live here. Shachihoko can appear in your dreams, make your body do things against its will, and think about it, they're completely made of water! That's…creepy!"

"Tell me, in these stories your mama told you, did the Shacihoko gobble you up because you didn't brush your teeth, go to bed on time or do your homework?" Zei dipped another bag into a shallow pool, while the wiry one seemed to relax his battle-axe in contemplation.

"Actually…yeah…they did," Ze spoke contemplatively.

"They're just ghost stories, for La's sake," Zei tied up another bag, "your mama told you them so you'd behave. Think about it, when was the last time you brushed your teeth?"

"Uh…I don't think I've any teeth left to brush…" Ze licked his irregularly-distributed molars.

"Did your homework?" Zei turned aside.

"I dropped out of school, you remember that," the short one lowered his axe and peered at the unclean one.

"Went to bed on time?" Zei leaned on the edge of the pool.

"I always stayed up late because you were always keeping me out late helping you steal things," Ze turned entirely towards the planner.

"And have you been eaten?"

"………uhhhh………no?"

"There we go! You have no reason to be afraid whatsoever!" Zei smiled triumphantly, laying the second bag on the floor, "we can get all the Shachihoko we want, sell them to the highest builder and live in the lap of luxury for the rest of our days. You can even give your dear mama that holiday home she always wanted."

"That said, there must be some reason why no one's tried this before…" Dao commented, tying up a second bag.

"Because the Yalu Pillars are under the Avatar's protection," Zei spoke matter-of-factly, preparing another bag.

"What!?" Ze's paranoia was energised, and he squeezed his battle-axe close to him. Dao, similarly annoyed, dropped his bag on the floor as a measure of dignified alarm.

"When were you planning on telling us this!?" Dao directed a stern accusation at the still-smiling Zei. The unclean man opened his arms and simply smiled further.

"Relax! The Avatar's settling some dispute between city-states on the other side of the continent," Zei reasoned, turning back to the shallow, reflective pools, "even the Avatar can't be in two places at once."

"Maybe not, but I can be very quick," a soft, authoritative voice spoke from behind the three. A heartbeat passed as the three stood rooted to the spot in terror. Slowly turning, the three saw a figure framed by the light streaming in from outside. The figure stood astride the entrance with her staff set into the ground, partially blocking the light, and while her fierce stare was hard to make out, it was impossible to ignore once it was.

They gulped in unison. They'd met Avatar Yang Chen before, but that wasn't too unusual. Everyone in the world had seen the Avatar at least once, either in the process of being saved or being the one she saved people from. They all knew the life expectancy of those who fell into the latter category. After a suitable period of time engrossed in awe, Zei's self-defence mechanisms kicked into gear.

"Look, I know what this looks like, but…it isn't! Really!" Zei coughed to stop himself from trembling, "I was…we were…we just wanted to…uh…feed the cute little critters! That's right! These are sacks of food here, just little tiny things for the kids to gobble up. Eheh…not Shachihoko-spawn. Definitely not Shachihoko-spawn…"

"It is my duty as Avatar to protect the Balance of Nature," Avatar Yang Chen was not in the mood for playing word games, "the Shachihoko of the Yalu Pillars, unique in all the world, are vital to the Balance. I have promised to protect them, and here, today, I re-pledge my promise."

The Avatar stepped into the cavern, her voice echoing around the chamber and into their minds. Her robe trailed behind her, her staff knocked the floor of the chamber, her pace assertive, and her stare unmoving beneath the blue arrow on her forehead. The great arbiter of all man, nature and divinity, higher than any authority, marched towards the group of three, "on my word as Avatar, I will protect the sanctity of the Sachihoko's home, and the safety of their young, from the ravages of mankind. And that includes idiots like you," Yang Chen stopped a short distance before the gang of three, her voice level and calm, "you will return the young and report yourselves to the authorities."

"Listen! It was all his idea!" Dao protested, stepping away from Zei, "we were dragged into it against our will! If we had known, we'd never have…"

The Avatar's eyes glowed, and a thousand people across a thousand ages spoke:

_I WILL NOT REPEAT MYSELF._

The three men cowered under the most awesome stare in human experience, and rapidly emptied the contents of the bags into the shallow pools. They ran past Yang Chen, leaving most of their belongings behind, and the Avatar Spirit relaxed its indignation once the three hoodlums were safely out of sight.

Left alone with nothing except the young and the constant drip-drip cascading around the cavern walls, Yang Chen paused and sighed. Glancing down at a leftover puddle from the gang's hurried exit, she noticed a tiny little thing swirling around inside the confines of the blotch of water. Smiling, the Air Nomad knelt down to collect a part of the puddle in her hands, bringing the small, pebble-like creature to a nearby shallow pool. Depositing the young Shachihoko into the pool, she leant on the side to look at the tiny thing swirling and swimming with its siblings.

It was a sight to behold, this place. She made a note to come here more often. Yang Chen picked up her staff to leave, walking towards the entrance.

_Thank you, Avatar._

Yang Chen spun around, looking for where that strange sound had come from. It didn't sound like…sound. With no source to pin her senses on, her eyes passed over the dark passageway from which the water flowed. For a moment, in the blink of an eye, she thought she saw a pale face. A mask. But she couldn't see anything, and being alone with the echoing drip she shrugged it off and walked back towards the light.

Grateful creatures saw her go, and remembered the Avatar's promise.

* * *

**500 Years Later…**

The crow-gulls were getting loud this summer. Such were the thought processes going on underneath the wide-rimmed of the thin-faced, thin-moustached, thin-bearded old gentleman playing Pai-Sho by himself on the sea-front. In spite of the War, Naha Island was always popular in the Summer months, and with the New Peace the island promised to be particularly swamped. In light of this, the gentleman couldn't help but consider the 'New Peace' to be rather ironically named.

He'd intentionally picked a part of the sea-front away from the overcrowded beaches, opposite a tea-shop well-known by connoisseurs and largely unknown by anyone else, but the place was still unusually popular, as the tables either side of him were stacked with fresh visitors, and the gang of young men attempting to out-do each other in tensing their arm muscles on a table opposite were being especially annoying. He enjoyed it better when there was little but the crashing rocks to provide him with company, but nothing was getting in the way of his mid-afternoon playing session. It was his favourite ritual, right after his lunch-time and mid-morning playing sessions.

Beyond the wall that separated his table from the jagged rocks at the island's edge, a wide channel of water stretched from horizon to horizon, interrupted by a rocky edifice that marked the closest point of Ainu Island to Naha. The overbearing, curled cliff-face, several _li _in the distance, was his constant companion as he played. He liked to think of it as the opposite player. For that reason, the shadow passing over his table, and the tile that represented his most closely-held ideals being placed gingerly in the centre of the board, didn't come nearly as much of a shock to him as it otherwise might have.

"Ah, I see you prefer the White Lotus tile," the gentleman remarked to the friendly, portly fellow sitting opposite him, smiling underneath a broad-rimmed conical hat of his own.

"I don't know, I'm wondering if I'm starting to become predictable," the portly man wondered.

"It is the nature of the White Lotus defence to be unpredictable," the thin-faced Pai Sho player assured, moving his opposing piece, "it would be a contradiction in terms to be _predictably unpredictable_."

"Good news for me, then," the portly man moved forward another piece, "I hope I'm not intruding on your time."

"Not at all, I always value a good challenge," the old man reached for another piece before retracting his hand, bringing it up to his forehead as if remembering something, "oh, but where are my manners! I'll get you some tea. Ginseng is your favourite, isn't it?"

"Mmm…thank you, but I'd much prefer Oolong," the cheerful man requested, to the Naha resident's confusion.

"I thought you didn't like Oolong?" the thin-faced man wondered.

"Correction, _Iroh _doesn't like Oolong," General Iroh gave his orders, "but I like Oolong so much that I think I'll have a pot of it."

"Predictably unpredictable indeed…" the thin-faced man smiled deviously, holding up a hand and calling to a nearby waitress, "oh…service!? A pot of Oolong tea for my guest, please? You can put it on my tab."

"Yes, Mister Rozu!" the young waitress curtseyed and ran into the shop to comply with her customer's request.

"Hey! How come he's getting served before us!?" a young, slender, angry-looking man yelled from the midst of his gang clustered around a table on the other side of the courtyard. The waitress made a conscious effort to ignore them and keep walking.

"Because he said 'please'! Damn tourist…" the waitress responded angrily, in a complete u-turn to her attitude towards the two Pai Sho players. Iroh chuckled, then sighed wistfully, and Rozu turned back towards his guest.

"Reminiscing about lost youth?" Rozu moved a piece absent-mindedly and smiled, leaning on the table in Iroh's direction.

"No, just thinking back to when I had a teashop," Iroh spoke sorrowfully. Upon Rozu's stifled giggle, Iroh turned back, pushed a piece to one side on the board and confronted Rozu, "so is there a story behind 'Mister Rozu'?"

"I just go by 'Rozu', she added the 'Mister' part," Rozu mulled over his next move, "but I noticed that you were interested in this 'Iroh' character."

"Absolutely!" Iroh smiled. He enjoyed games of all kinds, "I'm especially interested in who the Firelord is sending to capture this dastardly fiend."

"Word is the Firelord's pretty upset over it, what with the Blue Spirit breaking right into the Royal Dungeons to release him," Rozu revealed. Iroh kept a straight face, as he was determined for Zuko's identity to remain a closely-guarded secret for now. Rozu continued, "apparently the Firelord is sending his own child to track the General down."

Iroh raised an eyebrow, "so he's getting chased by Azula again?"

"No, uh…" Rozu slid another piece forward, slowly and decisively, "I meant the…_other_…child…"

Iroh stared at his Pai Sho opponent in disbelief, and as soon as he was certain that the man really wasn't joking his head impacted against the metal table, sending Pai Sho tiles scattering and cups clattering. He wailed, "_what is wrong with the boy!?_"

"I blame the parents, personally," Rozu remarked calmly as he put the Pai Sho pieces back in their right places. Iroh looked up, wondering if that was a subtle dig against himself, but his annoyance never came to fruition as his attention was distracted by the unmistakeable scent of tea only a few inches from his nose.

"A pot of tea for your guest, Mister Rozu!" the cheerful young waitress smiled, setting the tea set in front of Iroh, whose mood immediately lightened at the proximity of delicious leaf-strained goodness. Then he remembered it was Woolong. Iroh shrugged, there were worse ways to spend one's time.

"Thank you kindly, young one," Iroh smiled approvingly.

"What did I tell you? They have excellent service," Rozu also nodded, and the young waitress blushed before retreating shyly from the table. Rozu added, "incessant tipping also helps."

"How are you able to afford it?" Iroh pondered, picking up his game where he left off, "in all the time I've known you I've seen you do nothing except sit here and watch the waves crashing and the physiques of young waitresses."

"Soldiers' pension," Rozu smiled, returning Iroh's move, "_two _soldiers' pensions, actually. Only a minor abuse of my privileges."

"I don't think membership of what used to be my spy ring counts as a _privilege_," Iroh poured a cup of Oolong, "but now I find myself extremely grateful that you all decided to stick around."

"We all have to help each other in these troubled times," Rozu considered, "especially since the times have become rather more troubled than typical."

"Elaborate," Iroh ordered, having to juggle the conversation, playing a game of Pai Sho and cooling off a cup of tea simultaneously.

"Azula's strangle-hold over the Earth Kingdom is tightening with every passing day," Rozu explained, "communication links have been strengthened, feudal lords brought into line, and the last few dissenters are being crushed, one by one. The Earth Kingdom population is still completely ignorant about who's calling the shots at all levels. The Fire Nation population is little better off. But there are more worrying things. According to the New Peace all the Prisoners of War should have been released, but whole swathes of them have disappeared, on both sides. As far as anyone's concerned they've all been released, with no documentation to the contrary."

"Disappeared where?" Iroh asked.

"No one knows. And that's not the only thing that's disappeared," Rozu leaned over, "have you ever heard of Pingfang Bay?"

"Sure, lovely sandy beaches, went on holiday there once," Iroh cocked an eyebrow and leaned back in his seat, "why do you ask?"

"You see, that makes you _unique _amongst the peoples of the Fire Nation," Rozu got to the point, "because no one else has ever heard of Pingfang Bay. It's not even like it's guarded or being kept a secret. It's just completely dropped out of public memory, disappeared off all the maps."

"This isn't a Base 77 fairy tale is it?" Iroh remarked sceptically.

"Who knows? But those Prisoners of War must have gone _somewhere_," Rozu remarked, the crow-gulls providing a soothing backdrop to some difficult conversation, "we have the space of a summer before Sozin's Comet arrives, and yet its purpose seems to be rapidly becoming redundant. What else can we use it for?"

"I'd much rather we not use it at all," Iroh sipped on his tea contemplatively, "if my brother is intent on certifying his power then I fear the consequences not only for the rest of the world, but for the Fire Nation itself. Without the Balance we are doomed as a species, and in any case…this…is the _best _Oolong tea I have ever tasted. How did you find it!?"

"I couldn't have without your guidance," Rozu was eminently pleased with Iroh's reaction, "it took some time, but I know good tea when I taste it."

"My friend, I have nothing left to teach you…" Iroh smelt the alluring aroma of the tea, and put the cup back down after taking another sip, ready for refilling, "so what is going on with the Society itself?"

"It's getting a little patchy these days, thanks for asking," Rozu reported, "natural consequence of coming up against an opponent with far more resources and just as much smarts as ourselves."

"You mean the Dai Li?" Iroh guessed, pushing his pieces a little further to the other end of the board.

"That network was our undoing the last time we came across it," Rozu confirmed testily, knowing when he'd been outwitted, "now that they have a hold across the entire Kingdom, it's gotten even worse. A couple of our members have been captured already. We've instituted so many checks to make sure our friends minds are still there that it's become nearly impossible to gain accurate information on what Azula is up to."

"The Dai Li are loyal only to her," Iroh considered.

"But at least there's a network out there who's loyal only to you," Rozu spoke with his voice lowered, earnestly and urgently, "we know the circumstances of Ozai's usurpation like the back of our hands! We have infiltrated every nook and cranny of the Fire Nation! We can take it back, and make the world right again!"

"Sure, we can poke our heads over the parapet to get them sliced off," Iroh riposted, "please, I trained you better than that. We're far more useful to each other as we are, keeping our heads down and acquiring information. That's why we're a _society_. We are all each other's equals in trying to survive, not someone's personal army. Bombing bridges and sinking ships is a game for the young."

"What's the point of having the White Lotus Society if we never use it?" Rozu asked rhetorically, "every one of us is committed to your cause, Fire Lord Iroh! We know your rightful place is on the throne of the Fire Nation. Just give the word and we'll lead the way to your restoration!"

"I was never Fire Lord, Rozu," Iroh looked down at the Pai Sho board sadly, "and it's an honour that you all think so highly of me. But you can't keep deluding yourselves. I was never Fire Lord material. I have no wish to rule, no need of power. I just want to live the rest of my life in peace."

"You denigrate yourself far too much, General," Rozu spoke reverentially.

"You think?" Iroh responded, looking his Pai Sho opponent in the eye, "the world has no place for one who has seen too many autumn leaves fall. I'm a decrepit, stupid old man. I'd never last five minutes in the viper's nest of the Fire Palace. If I were to recommend anyone, it'd be young Prince Zuko…if he wasn't so schizophrenic about his decisions at any rate."

"Are you _really_ sure about that?" Rozu questioned.

"I've only recently come to realise that he doesn't want the same things that I do," Iroh was lost in his own considerations as he looked at the birds lonesome calls over the sea, from which there slowly emerged a great red hawk, a tiny pin-prick on the horizon, "or, wait, that he didn't want the same things _Lu Ten _did. Zuko holds an earnest desire to do something with his life. Maybe being Fire Lord is what will satisfy that desire? Though hopefully it won't involve giving my brother my severed head. That's a thought, why don't you try getting Zuko on the throne? It would stop him getting _me_."

"I don't think that's a good idea at all," Rozu shook his head, "do you want to know why the illustrious Prince Zuko is intent on chasing you now?"

"I'm all ears," Iroh replied honestly, turning his attention away from the slowly approaching hawk flying over the sea.

"He's only chasing after you because he thinks you can lead him to the Avatar," Rozu revealed. After Iroh blinked a couple of times, Rozu elaborated, "the Avatar who happens to be _dead_."

"You don't put much stock in the possibility that my nephew's _not_ a deluded obsessive unable to face facts, then?" Iroh raised both his eyebrows.

"Haven't seen much evidence to the contrary," Rozu explained, "he hasn't been seen in nearly three weeks. We tracked his companions flying from the East of the Earth Kingdom to somewhere around the Northern Air Temple. No word on them since. As far as we can gather, that's exactly the same information the Dai Li have. And their information trumps ours. They have a statement straight out the Waterbender's mouth that he died in Ba Sing Se."

"I see," Iroh spoke downcastedly. He had witnessed the Avatar's injuries himself, and had tried to give both him and the Waterbender time to escape. His sacrifice had been in vain after all.

"However…" Rozu's voice piqued as he acted like he just remembered something, "I have heard something rather peculiar. A few hours ago, actually. Apparently, just this morning, there was an arrest somewhere in the Territories. A juvenile delinquent…apparently he was part of this Earth Kingdom guerrilla cell…was detained when he turned up in main street, Ryojun, having some kind of nervous breakdown. He was ranting and raving at a group of Fire Nation civilians, claiming one of them was the Avatar, talking about 'taking on the Fire Nation together'. This was a group of four, consisting of two teenagers and two children. They ignored him and moved on, but I recall that one of these children was a small boy, aged around 12, with unusually short hair."

"Uh-huh…" Iroh leaned in closer, "and I don't suppose you have any more information on this group of four, do you?"

"Not right now, but I may just have something for you in a few moments," Rozu smiled, looking out at sea and the giant red hawk that was flapping quickly to a halt before the Pai Sho player's outstretched arm. The large bird clutched onto Rozu's forearm and closed its eyes as the thin-faced man stroked her back. After a short while of appreciative petting, Rozu removed a slip of parchment from the hawk's leg and unfurled it, scanning it quickly before reporting, "they're about to board a ship headed towards this very island. I take it you're interested in providing these sightseers with a guided tour?"

Iroh's smile, so fresh on his face, regrettably turned into a frown, and the General leaned back, "my nephew's plan is to follow me so I lead him to the Avatar. If he is alive, I'd be jeopardising his safety if I were to linger around long enough for Zuko to catch up with me."

"Something tells me you can take your time. Apparently the High Council has assigned the Rough Rhinos to assist Zuko in his search, leaving the kid sitting around twiddling his thumbs until they return from overseas. The Generals probably did that for the express purpose of frustrating the Prince," Rozu petted the hawk and fed him a handful of birdseed that he'd mysteriously produced from a back pocket somewhere, "that said, I agree with you. Staying in one place for any length of time is dangerous, no matter how helpful the pursuers are."

"Very well…I'd better be going, then," Iroh leaned on the table to stand fully upright, "I could drink the contents of this tea-shop dry, but I'm just going to have to put aside my habits for another time."

"You don't want to finish our game?" Rozu asked in disappointment, drawing a curious glance from Iroh.

"I already did. I checkmated you two minutes ago," Iroh pointed out.

"What? No you didn…" Rozu looked down at the board, and his face fell as he realised that no matter what move he made, his defeat was inevitable, "…okay. How did you…?"

"When this mysterious group of sightseers gets to Naha Island, it'll be the collective responsibility of the White Lotus Society to help them anyway we can," Iroh concentrated on their mission at hand, giving orders and yet not. The only authority he claimed was the authority of the Balance. Rozu petted the hawk sullenly.

"_If_ they get to Naha Island…" Rozu muttered, perching the hawk on the sea wall.

"What do you mean?" Iroh asked.

"Attacks on shipping in the Mo Ce Sea have spiked in the last couple of weeks," Rozu faced his former commanding officer, "it's not safe for ships to travel even _with _escort these days."

"We've always had attacks on shipping," Iroh interrogated, "what makes _these _attacks so unique?"

"It's hard to find anything about them _in common _with other attacks," Rozu explained, "no one knows who's behind them, but what they have in common is that the ships have been ripped apart from the _inside out_. The authorities haven't been able to get anything resembling a reliable testimony of these attacks. It's not like they're especially lethal, it's just that precious few of the survivors come out of them…sane."

"I see…" Iroh bowed his head, seeming to know something Rozu didn't, "the birds are pecking us now they've found their nests destroyed. We're finally paying the price for the havoc we've unleashed on the balance of nature."

"…pardon?" Rozu asked, confused.

Iroh, lost in thought for a second, abruptly realised Rozu had asked a question, "oh! Sorry…my mind drifted elsewhere. We can't afford to do that too often in the next few days. I'll be keeping on my toes to prevent Zuko from following, and I'd recommend the…uh…'visitors' to do the same."

"I'll inform the rest of the Society," Rozu took out a scrap of parchment and a piece of charcoal from the infinite regresses of his clothing, beginning to scrawl the calligraphy in intense concentration before looking up again, uncertainly, "so…um…what should I say if anyone asks about you?"

"Tell them…" Iroh paused to look out over the sea, watching the crow-gulls flutter through the gap between the islands, gazing over the horizon and its rocky interruption, "tell them that…if they seek the dragon, he has returned to his keep."

"Oooooh…descriptive _and _vague! It'll keep them stumped for days!" Rozu smiled as he scribbled.

"That's the intention," Iroh smiled in unison, "though…be sure to give our friends some _broad hints _at least, okay?"

"For certain!" Rozu rolled up the parchment to attach it to the hawk's leg, "and so, my friend, would you say this little mid-afternoon gathering has been productive or worrying?"

"Well, whatever the consequences of the time being spent…" Iroh began.

"…any time spent with agreeable company is time well made?" Rozu hazarded a guess.

"Now, see, what do you people need me for? You know everything you need," Iroh responded genially, "be sure to extend my complements to the tea-maker."

Iroh bowed his head respectfully, as an equal, and departed the courtyard. Rozu watched him leave with a grin fixed on his face, chin leaning on the back of his joined hands. As the General disappeared into the crowd just outside the courtyard, indistinguishable from the mass, Rozu said quietly to himself, "if the tea-maker only knew what that complement meant, it'd be the pinnacle of his life."

Rozu took the hawk in both hands, petting it softly. Still smiling, he launched the bird into the air from where he was sitting, and the hawk immediately beat her wings to gain lift. Rozu looked on silently and pleasingly, as the mighty bird flew out to join the calling crow-gulls, becoming a smaller and smaller speck over the Mo Ce Sea.

* * *

What was it, Aang thought? What was making everything look so red? It was like every area the Fire Nation inhabited had a filter attached to it. He remembered it when he was in the Fire Nation, a lifetime ago, and now he was seeing it here, in the waiting room for the ferry that would take him back there, nestled inside the Fire Nation colony port of Ryojun. It might have just been the materials the Fire Nation used, but he was starting to wonder if they treated the air with something as well. Or it could have been because they'd only gotten a few hours sleep and he was staring through bloodshot eyes. He didn't feel that tired, but he was aware, in the tenuous link he still maintained with his body, that he very much should be.

Everyone else dealt with their tiredness the way Team Avatar always did…getting annoyed.

"So, now we've gotten over so many hurdles to get to the Fire Nation," Katara pulled one of her newly-acquired bangs out of her eyes, "can someone now explain to me…as in, the only one of us who isn't exactly sold on the idea…what we're supposed to _do _when we get to the Fire Nation?"

"Find Iroh," Toph rolled her unseeing eyes, red trousers crossed over each other in impatience, "feel happy I'm not throwing in a 'well, duh'."

"Guyyyys, not so _loud_, there are people sitting right next to us," Sokka was fiddling with his top-knot to try to make it stay, but slapped his arms next to his sides and sat straight up in his red tunic in an attempt to look inconspicuous, "we're…er…we're gonna go see the sights and return to our good old Fire Nation territory homestead with lots and lots of souvenirs, aren't we, Kazuki?"

"Probably, but it's a good question to ask," Aang scratched his itchy scalp, hidden underneath his short crop of hair, "I've only the vaguest idea of the place we're gonna end up in, and our…um…'friend' is probably not going to be an easy man to find."

"Moan, grumble, whine, will you all look on the bright side!?" Sokka spread his arms out and smiled broadly, "we're heading to the Fire Nation!"

Sokka's arms spread out into the stuffy, cramped waiting room, a humid place to wait in during the summer afternoon, with the sunlight beaming through slits in the walls making the dust glow and illuminating the mass of grumbling holidaymakers, obnoxious kids and overstressed staff. Katara, her head leant on her hand, her arm leant on the corner of the bench, looking at the teeming mass of parasites crowding her vision, couldn't raise the merest hint of a smile, speaking venomously, "…hoorayyyyy…"

"Isn't it three 'o clock _yet_? My feet are getting atrophied from wasting away in this dump," Toph groaned, throwing her head back on her crossed arms. This exasperated statement made Aang cease scratching his head, as a thought entered into it.

"Uh…'Ming Zhi'…" Aang leaned forward in concern, "are you sure you want to get started that soon? I mean…the ship _is _gonna be made of metal."

A huge, devilish smile crossed Toph's relaxed face, and she said confidently, "then the ship is gonna be my plaything."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Aang looked from Toph to Sokka in confusion. Sokka, who had been confused at Aang's reaction, suddenly realised what he was confused about, and smiled a friendly smile himself as he brought his arm around Aang's shoulders.

"Ohoh! I just remembered we haven't shown you what our little Earthbending prodigy can do now!" Sokka put an arm around Toph's shoulders as well and jerked her to one side, "she's just a well of talent, ain't she?"

Toph, blushing profusely, screwed her face in anger and shunted Sokka away with both her arms, "I'm not your _property_, sheesh. I discovered I could bend metal on my own, there's no 'our little' anything."

Aang jerked himself out of Sokka's grasp in a physical manifestation of his shock, "woah, wait…hold up…you can _bend metal_!?"

"Haven't had much chance to practice, what with fleeing for our lives and everything over the last few weeks," Toph smiled and cracked her knuckles in an unconvincing show of modesty, "but yeah. I've just discovered, quite by chance, that I am _even more awesome than I thought I was_."

"That's great!" Aang smiled at Toph's confidence, "that'll be really helpful if we run into trouble on the trip!"

"Yeah…great help…as we're travelling in a little tin can that just so happens to be going over a big, watery _sea_," Katara bitterly laid out her territory against the upstart interloper.

"Oh! Eh…well…I didn't just mean _her_, obviously!" Aang winced as he defended himself, "I mean, you're all helpful, in every way. You're all such great, helpful, kind, powerful…friends! I couldn't have done anything without you guys!" Aang's friendly face fell, and melancholy weighted his eyes downward towards the tiled floor. He slumped back into the bench, feeling with one hand the scar on his back, "especially now I can't do anything period."

Katara, recognizing that melancholy when she heard it, popped out of her funk in an instant and turned to Aang, looking apologetic, "I…I'm sorry A…Kazuki…I didn't mean it to sound that way…"

"No, it's okay," Aang smiled weakly, turning back to Katara, "I need you all more than ever now. And I'm thankful for every day we do need each other. It keeps us together."

"Yeah…" Katara smiled back. They looked at each others' eyes warmly. Crisis over with, Katara turned to Sokka, still smiling. Aang's gaze lingered, and his smile began feeling forced. Katara spoke to Sokka, "and…yeah…I know we have to go to the Fire Nation. For Kazuki's sake. But…maybe we can start thinking about practicalities? Kazuki knows what the Fire Nation looked like a hundred years ago, but we're gonna need something a bit more…current."

"Look…'Ursa'…I do _get_ that we need something more than blind luck once we get across the sea," Sokka appealed, "but if the last week has taught us anything, it's that not everyone in the Fire Nation is…" Sokka looked around and spoke more quietly, "…_evil_. If we can find friends, helpers, people opposed to the Fire Lord, we can…you know…get a network set up. Find out information on fugitives, opponents…who knows, maybe even…war prisoners? Maybe?"

"Ambitious much?" Toph scoffed, "sorry to burst your bubble, 'Gameshin', but we don't have any friends as it is, and we're not even on enemy territory yet."

"I don't know, it's not a bad plan," Katara shrugged, "sure, it's not a _brilliant _plan either, but we know there are people in the Fire Nation opposed to the Fire Lord. Like the Blue Spirit…"

"We can't trust the Blue Spirit…" Aang spoke with heavy finality, arms crossed and looking distinctly pouty. No one else was entirely sure how to respond to what seemed a blatantly unfounded statement. Katara was especially puzzled.

"What have you got against him, anyway?" Katara wondered, "every time we mention the name you get all upset."

"Because we can't trust him," Aang looked over angrily at the rest of the raised-eyebrowed group and realised he needed something better approaching a justification. He spouted, "he's unreliable! For all we know he's probably out for his own self-interest!"

"Well, to be fair, some of the stories I heard about him involved stealing stuff from honest, hard-working folk," Toph shrugged, "I put it down to myth-gossip."

"You see!?" Aang ranted, "he's just a trumped-up thief! He's got an agenda, and it ain't ours!"

"Don't look a gift ostrich-horse in the beak," Sokka preached, "he's freed your future teacher and has a long track record of Fire Nation-opposing. It's not like we've had the luxury of picking and choosing, in case you didn't notice the big hole in the ground where Yuung's thugs used to be."

"We have to give him a chance. There must be a little good left in the Fire Nation," Katara considered, "it's not like any of us have ever met him, have we?"

"…we! …I! …eh! …ugh…" Aang flailed before admitting defeat and collapsing back into the bench. He thought to himself, why was he keeping Zuko's identity a secret? None of the reasons he told himself seemed entirely sufficient. Was it as simple as wanting to give Zuko a chance? Or was it trying to deny he had the capacity to do good? There were so many conflicting motives that he decided the best thing to do was to keep silent.

"I know I'm the first to say the Fire Nation are pretty much universally a pack of vipers," Sokka answered Katara's earlier enquiry, "but don't say I'm a man immune to evidence. Ming Zhi's gained a new favourite uncle, and I'm sure he'd appreciate you more than the other guy he used to be the favourite uncle of…"

"One more syllable and I'm cramming it back down your throat," Katara reacted unexpectedly angrily to Sokka's statement. Sokka looked eminently in the mode to tease but a quick study of the fierceness etched into the Waterbenders' features dissuaded him. She'd crouched up into the bench with her arms wrapped around herself. She looked sincerely hurt. Aang glanced over and wondered, as he had wondered ever since he'd seen the two of them in the Old City of Ba Sing Se. There were so many connections, and as the Avatar he was meant to be able to distance himself from them, to see them in isolation. It was something that sometimes got easier and sometimes got harder, ever since that same day in the Old City when he died. Right now he was too angry to entertain these thoughts for too long. He wasn't even sure what he was angry at.

He just felt like he was about to burst into flames.

Things settled down, as they usually did, and the hubbub of the waiting room that had allowed the four of them to argue about sedition against the state in a crowded room died down very suddenly. A small gong was hit five times in quick succession to gather everyone's attention. Bright light entered as a pair of sliding wooden doors was half-slid open at the far end of the waiting room, revealing the dockside and bright blue sky beyond. The same woman they'd reserved with yesterday was standing at the door with a scroll and ink nib at hand, and announced, "the next ferry to Naha Island will be docking in a few minutes. Now's the time to pick up your reservations and purchase your tickets. Form an orderly line, please! If I see people rushing forward and getting their faces smashed against the central pillar, you are _not _getting compensation, understand!?"

Truth be told, there was something of rush towards the door, but the woman's announcement slowed them down considerably before any accidents could accrue. That didn't stop the Avatar's group from ending up almost dead last in the line, however, despite Sokka's desperate attempts to get everyone on their feet in seven seconds flat. Aang was having to do little hops over the rows of heads to so much as see the door. After waiting hours on end for a place in the line, waiting for even longer as the reservations were rolled out one by one was getting towards riotous conditions. Several mutters of "damn attacks", "if they'd caught them by now we wouldn't have to be waiting here" and "probably just an excuse to swindle us" could be heard. The fuming of the passengers cancelled out the fresh breeze of the open door in maintaining the room's oven-like conditions.

The reservations were trundled out one by one. Ration books were returned to their owners, home ownership deeds were stuffed into luggage, and various pets were led back into their carrying baskets for travel. The woman had an excellent memory for whose item's was whose, which came in handy for those people in queue who didn't make reservations at all and just picked whatever random object was trundled out first. Every person who'd thought they'd sneak into a trip back to the mother country was the subject of gloating from those still in the line as each made their disappointed way back out. As the line trundled slowly forward, Toph could recognise a small patter of footsteps on the other side of the wall. She realised who it was before his name was called out.

"Nandi! Your parents have come to collect you!" the ticket woman called out behind the door, and into vision pattered the cheerful scruffy-haired boy Toph had permanently stamped as a monster in her tactile image of the universe. He was clutching in one hand a stack of cards, using that arm as a rest for the fuzzy little critter resting contentedly in a curled-up position. The boy's other hand was stroking the winged lemur. Momo, their living reservation guarantee, seemed extremely comfortable. That irritated Toph even more than if he'd been abused in the boy's care. She seethed. And seethed some more.

"You know, Ming Zhi, he's kinda _my _pet, not yours," Aang pointed out politely to the angry little Earthbender.

"Mind your own business, dead-weight," Toph replied bitterly. She felt intently for what was going to happen next, while Nandi's parents, a slender young woman in light utilitarian gear and a bald-headed working man with a gut full of Maotai, seemed uncertain as to what to do next.

"Uh…do those come with the package if you book early?" the father wondered.

"No…eheh…these are just other people's reservations," the ticket woman explained.

"I got a card game!" Nandi swivelled his card-clutching hand as much as he could without waking Momo, and looked up at the ticket woman, "hey, if the man who left this doesn't turn up, can I keep it?"

"I don't see why not…" the ticket woman confirmed. Nandi's mother pointed uncertainly.

"And the…um…'animal'?" the mother asked haltingly.

The ticket woman shrugged, "again, it all depends on whether or not the owner turns up…"

"Hey! We're here!" Toph marched out of the line towards the front, ignoring the howls of protest from those in front of her, and prompting the rest of the group to wince defensively before quickly following behind her, hoping against hope to persuade her to get back in line. Toph stomped to just in front of Nandi, "don't you go taking my winged lemur under false pretences! He's mine I tell you! _Mine!_"

"I already told you he's mi-_i-i-i-_" Aang attempted to interrupt only to have a small sliver of rock almost puncture his foot before retreating back into the ground again. Realising his wincing and hopping on one sandal-wearing foot were attracting stares, he explained, "it's just cramp! It's just cramp! Really!"

"Oh yeah! I remember you!" Nandi smiled at Toph, patting Momo awake, "it's good that you showed up! I mean, winged-lemurs are really cool, but I don't think I'm good with pets…"

"You've made a wise decision," Toph couldn't see Nandi's smile, and held her arm out expectantly, "and I'm sure you're terrible with pets."

Nandi, seemingly oblivious to the insults being hurled at him, made an attempt to hand Momo over to Toph. The winged lemur, now fully awake, looked around in the gap between the warm and welcoming messy-haired boy and the cold and malicious Earthbending girl, and instinctively resisted Nandi's attempts to let go of the creature, scrabbling up his arm and onto his shoulders. Nandi giggled while Toph looked distraught.

"Awww…I guess we got on pretty well together…" Nandi placed his pack of cards in a pocket of his thin clothes and held Momo by the shoulders, "but you've got to go home now, little guy."

Momo, hanging out with his legs dangling downwards, whined as Toph grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him over her own shoulder, pinning the creature there. Nandi's wide-grinned self made a little wave to the unseeing Earthbender, "see ya on the trip!"

Nandi took his mother's outstretched arm and wandered out into the sunshine to wait for the ferry. Toph made a permanent sign of vendetta upon the collection of fragments of senses that made up Nandi, glaring fiercely beyond her blindness, swearing "okay, that does it. _You_, my friend, are not lasting this trip alive."

"Sorry about this, ma'am!" Sokka bowed apologetically at the ticket woman, and upon looking at the situation they were in and the likelihood of them getting another place in the lengthening queue that had long since snaked out the building, proposed "so…uh…since we're already _here_…maybe we should just buy our tickets now?"

The ticket woman looked like she had had a long and exhausting day, and really didn't feel like cleaning up any more horrendous messes, but practicalities came up and, for umpteenth time that day, shrugged "sure. That'll be 30 Shu and four travel rations for the lot of you."

The walls of the waiting room rumbled from the sound of the line's collective groaning at the interlopers skipping the queue, and Sokka was quick to hand over three small silver coins and four booklets. The ticket woman stamped a square 'good for one ferry ride' with their destination in each of the ration books as she checked the identities of the people in front of her. The two teenagers Gameshin and Ursa, and the two children Kazuki and Ming Zhi, born out in the sticks in Shihezi Province and going to the Fire Nation for the first time. The books were given back with their tickets and the woman wished them a good trip.

Toph could feel the bright sun on her skin, while the others blinked and covered their eyes as the contrast between the gloom of the waiting room and the blinding sunshine of the outside world burnt into their retinas. What landscape they could make out was sparkling. The water of the river alongside the dock-side rippled with reflections and captured sunlight. The smoke plume from Ryojun was blowing away behind them on the gentle breeze, leaving the sky clear and cloudless. There were reddish tints, browns and greens on the far bank, as far as their vision could make out.

But their eyes were given no time to adjust as a shadow passed over all of them. The chugging sound of enormous engines, the continuous slosh of displaced water and the clinking and clanking of something massive grinding to a halt were evidence enough for the colossal vessel that came into view in front of them. It gradually slowed to a halt, and lengths of chain descended over the side of the ship to attach it to the dock-side. It came to a stop with almost mathematical precision, the spiked metal hatchways lined up exactly with walkways attached to the dock with steps leading up to them.

Then something happened that seemed to strike those around the group as unusual: a band started up. The various brass instruments, gongs and woodwinds struck up a lively, stirring tune that echoed around the dockyard, and the hatchway opened gradually to reveal a man that looked almost like a sage, with a long, flowy robe, a long, flowy beard and a long, flowy demeanour, he smiled widely with eyes closed as behind him a woman in her forties, dressed in official uniform, with supremely elegant features although her beauty was almost always hidden behind an expression of supreme annoyance, was busy scribbling into a scroll. A small entourage of functionally dressed staff flanked the smiling man as he stood on the gangplank, and the Avatar's group heard from behind them the unmistakeable sound of hand slapping face, as the ticket woman exclaimed "what's the damn fool up to now?"

"_Welcome brothers! Welcome sisters! Welcome everyone!_" the man flung his arms wide and addressed the crowd, "_it is my single honour to humbly welcome you aboard the vanguard, the mainstay of the Fire Nation's passenger fleet! The fastest, most comfortable journey you can experience, affordable to the common man! The men and women, whose labours and hardships have brought us victory, deserve the best the Hong Yu Gou Service has to offer! Welcome brothers and sisters of Fire! Welcome to the Fire Lord's Ship Gang Shen!_"

After that ridiculous display, everyone felt politely obliged to clap.

**To Be Continued…**

**_Avatar: The Last Airbender _**Concept and Characters © Nickelodeon 2005-06

* * *

**Author's Note: **If you've been keeping up with my Book 3 work thus far, you may be beginning to sense a pattern involving me cramming as much exposition as possible into the first part. For this I do apologise, but it _does _get better after this, promise. 'Hong Yu Gou' roughly translates as 'Red Sea Hawk'...a kind of homage to the 'Red Funnel' passenger ferries I took between the Isle of Wight and Southampton, which named their ferries after birds of prey like the 'Red Falcon', 'Red Eagle' and 'Red Osprey'. There aren't enough 'ospreys' out there, I feel. It's a fun name. Ryojun is actually modeled on Southampton, being the one big port city I lived in for a couple of years.

As you might be able to guess from the many leaden hints...it's a haunted house tale. C'mon, you all knew it.

In other news, the first two chapters won a competition! First and Second Places at 'Elemental Week' contest. You should check the site out, it has by far and away our most useful mole on the inside as to what Nick plans to do with **_Avatar_**.


	2. Being and Nothingness

A few careful inquiries later, feigning ignorance on behalf of territorial yokel-dom, and they managed to fill in the blanks. The 'Hong Yu Guo Service' had been the mainstay ferry service in the area for generations, and when war broke out ownership had been taken over by the government, along with the other ferry services, so that having ships sunk by the enemy didn't result in them going bankrupt. They'd expanded to the territories, and ran pretty efficiently, according to some of the older people they asked. Then…_he _came in.

The long, flowy robed man went by the name of Xuan, and he was, contrary to all good sense, the chief administrator of the Hong Yu Guo Service. How he managed this impressive feat was a mystery to everyone except those who knew him. It became obvious once you did: he was so annoying that people tended to give him what he wanted just so he'd go away. However, he wanted to be chief administrator of all the ferry services in the Fire Nation, which put him in direct competition with the other ferries operating at the time. Xuan responded to this self-inflicted challenge by being the most bizarre and outlandish ferry operator in the Fire Nation's revue. He tried all kinds of scams, promotions, stunts and plain idiotic ideas to get more passengers. Regular passengers found them irritating, while new passengers just found them weird. The annoying thing about these scams was that even though in a perfect world they'd drive more customers away, bizarrely enough they actually _worked_.

And now his final victory was in sight. Thanks to the spike in attacks, all the other ferry services had stopped operating. Hong Yu Guo Service ferries were the only passenger ships operating in the Mo Ce Sea.

"Thank you kindly for choosing Hong Yu Guo Service for your journey to the Fire Nation, your reliable, comfortable and affordable bridge to the mother country…" Xuan smiled and greeted every third passenger who came to the foot of the central gangplank, "remember! We stand proud in the face of all opposition! We won't let some scare send us scrabbling out of the water! And be sure to pick up one of our complementary spicy crunchy sticks at the snack bar. Thank you."

The self-assured middle-aged man chuckled gluttonously to himself, and the woman next to him, the stern and professional beauty currently scribbling things in a scroll, was less than enthused, "I couldn't help but notice we seem to be taking on more passengers than usual. As hard as it is to fathom, Xuan, people do actually count as 'weight' on this thing."

"Irrelevant, my dear Captain," Xuan responded with a glint in his eye, "demand is substantially greater than supply, and what kind of ferry operator would I be if I let the poor, seat-less masses gaze longingly from the dockside as their ride home drifts into the distance?"

"The kind of ferry operator who can actually operate ferries?" the Captain asked rhetorically, eyes still concentrated on the scroll, which looked like some kind of shipping manifest.

"You're still stuck in the tired, old attitude of service provision, I'm afraid, Captain Mayu" the man's smile never wavered, "I'm not providing a service! I'm providing an _experience_! A trip to rival the holiday itself, at an affordable price! And now with these attacks having taken care of the opposition, word will spread! Years from now people will talk of 'good old ----, who kept the lifeline to our homeland open when no one else would dare…and he's got a great choice in entertainment as well!'." ----'s chuckle turned into a gloat, and he clenched his fist hungrily, "_I am an entrepreneurial mastermind!_"

"Genius, sir. Genius," Mayu spoke neutrally, "except what happens if _we _get attacked?"

"Bah!" Xuan dismissed, "ships getting ripped from the inside out? Tales of masked faces and bodily possession? You seriously believe this is anything more than some small incident blown out of all proportion? The Fire Navy has ships every square _li _looking for the people behind these attacks, if they haven't caught them already. Let the other ferries sink into witless paranoia but _I _have passengers to serve!"

"Fine, then, you can serve them and I can get back to doing my job," Captain Mayu rolled up her scroll and walked up the gangplank and into the ship, stopping briefly to turn and calmly stare down the robed man, "remember that even if you run this outfit, you're on _my _ship. If anything you do threatens our safety, you're going to be the first passenger to abandon ship…_without _a life-belt. Understand?"

"With you at the helm, our safety is assured," the man smiled and bowed at the Captain, all charm and little sincerity. Mayu turned away and disappeared inside the hull, hoping that if she badgered the man enough he'd have the good sense to fire her. Xuan turned, smile once again fixed, and greeted the next lot of boarding passengers, "welcome aboard! Welcome, welcome! Have you travelled far?"

"Uh…yeah…from Shihezi Province," the one named Gameshin responded, wary of this strange man looking far too welcoming for comfort.

"Then put your feet up and make yourselves comfortable!" Xuan implored the group of four (plus one winged lemur) approaching the gangplank, "you deserve nothing less after your long journey. We even have the _finest _foot rubbing facilities!"

"Step aside, Gameshin," the youngest girl of the group, perfectly assured of herself, headed to the front of the pack and strode confidently towards the gangplank, "I'm gonna teach this ship to stay well clear of my fee-"

The blind Earthbender abruptly halted when her foot touched the end of the gangplank. She kept her foot there for some moments, just to make sure there wasn't a mistake, but it was as clear as blindness could be. Other than the small foot-sized square of solidity she stood on, it felt suspended in thin air. She tried to tell if there was this colossal vessel a few feet in front of her, and felt nothing.

She took her foot off, hesitantly. Her breath quickened and she broke out into a sweat, concentrating hard to try to make the ground in front of her appear in her sensory perception. It was futile. Her skills had been rendered utterly useless. She was…blind. Momo, perched on her shoulder, peeked into her face to see what was causing all the perspiration to appear. The disguised warrior behind her piped up a note of concern, "uh…Ming Zhi? Is anything wrong?"

Toph gulped, and steadied her nerves, saying "no. Nothing's wrong." Taking a deep breath, she stepped onto the gangplank, haltingly making her slow way onto the ship. Xuan took a brief interest.

"Is your friend alright?" the entrepreneur asked, "she looks a bit…unsteady."

"Noooo…she's fine! Just a rough trip, is all," Sokka covered for his companion, and upon looking on the smooth, dark grey surface of the ship, attempted to make his next question sound as natural as possible, "uh…I was just…uh…admiring the materials this ship's made of. It seems a bit…different to what we're used to where we come from."

"You come from the north, right?" Xuan responded, placing a hand on one of the railings for the gangplank, "what you're setting your eyes on now is the best in Fire Nation manufacturing! Purest metal in the whole world! Our victory in war was thanks to the perfection of our steel, and now our victory in peace will be thanks to the very same stuff!"

Toph paused halfway up the gangplank, gripping tightly to the railing and feeling very put upon, "oh joy…"

"Who can be worried about attacks when we have ships like these? Honestly…" Xuan bragged, "but what am I doing, boring you silly like this? Enjoy your trip aboard the _Gang Shen_!"

"Will do!" Sokka smiled back, as briefly as he could before shuddering once his attention was suitably distracted elsewhere. Katara and Aang followed him inside, up the gangplank and into the ship itself. Toph had to use her free hand to keep Momo on her shoulder as what shred there was of daylight in the shadow of the _Gang Shen _disappeared. They entered one by one, and Aang looked up at the side of the vessel, towering above him as the edge of the hull split the sky in two. The railing he held shuddered with the rumbling of engines, and drifting above him was a solitary smoke plume, remnants of the shreds of earth torn up to power this leviathan. As he stepped inside the dark interior, the last of the group to do so, he got the unpleasant impression that he was being swallowed by an enormous beast. A beast not of this earth.

* * *

"Anyone left to board?" Captain Mayu asked the crewman reporting on the state of the boarding gates. He was standing to attention on the bridge of the _Gang Shen_, an almost complete facsimile of a military vessel. While their responsibilities extended to the Minister of Transportation, they still remained inside a military hierarchy. There really wasn't any difference between the two as far as the Fire Nation was concerned. The Captain herself was a Firebender, as were her First and Second Officers, and a small group of soldiers remained on-board at all times, just in case they ran into enemies and felt like conducting a boarding operation. If they felt like it. No pressure.

"Just a few stragglers," the crewmember reported, "it's after 3 'o clock anyway, ma'am."

"Right enough," the Captain glanced over at the nearest time piece and turned to the other crew members at their stations, hands held behind her back, ordering calmly "raise the gangplanks, ready to release moorings, and prepare to depart."

* * *

A loud ring seared through the stuffy air of the engineering room, and a young girl, her body slick with grease and oil, instantly interrupted the repair job she was on to jump over and investigate what it meant.

"We're heading off!" she yelled at the top of her lungs over the sound of the engines, leaning off a ledge with one hand held onto a pipe. Monkey-like reflexes were required in the job description for a humid hell-hole like this.

The engine room crew ran to their posts straight away as an old man with a brawly physique barked out orders and pointed his spanner at the relevant people, "okay, people, turn those wheels! Faster! Get to the chains! Get to the chains before we take the dock with us! You! Get shovelling! _Harder! _You call that pressure!? You want pressure!? Go check on the cooling valve before it…oh for the love of…"

A pipe had burst on the other end, and quick as flash he was over there, turning a screw with his spanner and making the plume of cold vapour gradually slow into a trickle. The young girl leapt over to the centre of the room and the enormous contraption within, shouting "the engine's only at half-power!"

"Shui! Deal with this will ya!?" the head engineer dropped down from fixing the pipe and strode back the centre, "if anyone's dealing with that vixen, it's me!"

* * *

The gangplanks rose off the walkways, and the water behind the _Gang Shen _churned and bubbled as the propellers began their tireless work to move the ferry. The chains holding the ship to its moorings were detached by dockworkers and retracted back into the ship. Facing downriver, the mass of silver metal drifted away from the dockside, and the shadow over Ryojun's seafront lifted.

* * *

"Increase speed to 12 knots," Mayu commanded, facing out of the front window towards the end of the river, towards the Mo Ce Sea, and towards home, "15 degrees to port, then 15 degrees starboard once we reach the centre of the river."

* * *

"She's finally doing what she's told!" the chief engineer rejoiced, thrusting his arms out in the centre of the engine room as the beating, throbbing heart of the vessel came fully into life, spreading the blood of energy through its veins, fumes of coal surging from its lungs, "witness her awesome power and tremble before the God of Steel!"

* * *

Clawing its way forwards, the FLS _Gang Shen _spat, choked, fumed and growled. The ship parted the waves before itself, and paid no heed to what was in front of it. It didn't need tides, or wind, or any semblance of artistry. All it required to get to the Fire Nation was power.

* * *

The group was nestled deep, deep, deep inside the catacombs of the vessel, trying to keep themselves from getting lost, as the great increase in rumbling signposted loud and clear that they were finally on their way. There was no difference between day and night in this place, both times being equally lit in dull red lights and metallic hues. Double-checking the tickets with the corridors, they gradually made their way towards where their rooms were supposed to be. Not without difficulty.

"I guess that means we're on our way, then," Sokka decided, only for his chain of thought to be rudely interrupted by the repeated screechings of Momo. The lemur was on Toph's shoulder, tugging her pigtails as she walked forwards.

"Momo! Will you stop tha-" Toph protested before walking face-first into a bulkhead, falling over backwards and rubbing her nose. Momo calmed down, and Toph guessed "oh…okay…I get it…"

Sokka, smiling a little, wandered over to the prostrate Toph and leaned down over the blind Earthbender, holding out a hand, "I take it you need more than Momo for your…uh…'collision detection'?"

"I don't need anyone, Gameshin, mind your own business," Toph got herself up and dusted herself off, striding off as confidently as she could away from Sokka only for Momo to let out a brief screech and Toph's face to impact painfully against another bulkhead only a couple of feet away. Collapsing backwards once again, Sokka came back to her side, this time without a hand. Toph spoke testily "I said I was fine!"

"No, you're not. And it's _obvious _that you're not," Sokka appealed, "come on, we should have seen this coming. Just because you bent metal a couple of times doesn't mean you can do it _every _time. We've got the whole trip to start practicing!"

"I just don't understand…" Toph attempted to re-assert her dominance, which was hard when crumpled up on the floor with arms around legs, feeling like she was suspended in the middle of a void, "I managed it before. I'm _sure _I did. I'm not helpless. I'm _not_."

"Sure you're not," Sokka extended his arm, "doesn't mean we can't lend a hand every so often."

Toph had a look of consideration on her face, which was better than looking utterly lost. She admitted defeat with her head bowed and extended an arm upwards in something approximating the direction of Sokka's voice. Taking her hand, Sokka pulled her upwards and led her out of the blind corner she'd walked into. Momo curled up in Toph's shoulder from obsolescence. The hand made all the difference, in letting her senses know that she wouldn't potentially drop out of the sky with each individual step.

Having briefly paused due to this little escapade, Katara picked up the pace to rejoin the rest of them. Aang fell behind, and looked at the uncertain steps Toph was forced to take, padding her bare feet against the cold metal floor. It brought home his own situation of helplessness. Having lost his ability to bend, he had gradually come to terms with being ordinary, at least for now. Except he wasn't, really. He was stuck in a strange half-existence with himself at one end and the universe at the other. Ever since he died, both his physical existence and his spiritual existence had been walking something of a tightrope, clinging to corporeality haphazardly and reluctantly. He wasn't entirely sure what was left.

In front of him was a helpless Toph, being held by Sokka and accompanied by Katara. There was no one else in the corridor at the time. He could tell that this experience was distressing for Toph, as she'd defined herself by how many asses she could kick. But despite her protestations, she had help. Aang considered it all distantly, as something that couldn't be changed, and on reflection decided that Toph's situation wasn't so bad, with others to help her. Sokka was a capable planner, and Katara was right when she indicated how useful her Waterbending would be useful in the middle of the sea. Toph was helpless, but she wasn't alone…so what about him?

He couldn't do anything of note. While theoretically he was capable of Firebending, he had no idea how. And no urge to try with nothing to motivate him. Katara was turned away, her mind elsewhere, where he could not know. He even considered her from a distance. Of course she has her own priorities. She always did. She's been so protective of him over the time he knew her, and she'd been so close, that Aang hadn't really noticed how when everything was alright with him…she was contented. There wasn't a drive or ambition there…just a status quo that needed to be achieved or maintained. A way things should be. That was admirable, it really was.

So now there was a status quo. Things were far from perfect, but they were stable. It was the Avatar's role to bring stability to the world, and as lopsided as this stability was, it was still a correction. He could feel that familiar darkness encroach around the edges. They were doing fine, and they weren't thinking about him particularly. He just felt a strange desire to be elsewhere, a place beyond where he could look at everything from a distance, a high point from which things could make more sense. Where he could leave things like himself to this messy and disorganised world. It felt warm and comforting, this abyss. He didn't think he'd be missed, only for a little while. It seemed like as good an opportunity as any. His vision blurred at Toph's slowly patting feet, and his balance went. His senses blinked out, and the distant laughter was heard. It seemed like so far away, but he could reach it if he tried, if only for a little while, so he could just stop being himself for a while, and all the trouble it brought.

He was nothing here, so he'd go where he was everything.

Toph heard the thud against the metal floor first, and turned her face to the side to try to hear those light footsteps that made sure the dumb kid was still walking. He wasn't. "Dead-weight?" Toph asked aloud. When Momo felt distressed and leapt off her shoulder, she knew something was wrong. If only everything around her didn't feel so dark. "Hey!" she called "dead-weight!"

"What's dead…?" Katara turned back and paused in shock, "…no…"

"Kazuki!" Sokka left Toph's arm behind and ran over to kneel beside the limp body, breathing quietly on the metal floor, "Kazuki, wake up! This isn't funny!"

"Aang!" Katara threw caution to the wind and ran over to the 12 year old boy's side, trying to shake him awake, voice breaking as she called out his name "Aang! Aang! _Aang!_"

Aang couldn't hear them. He had gone elsewhere.

* * *

Compared to Nagaoka, Ryojun was an embryo. The very moment it appeared over the horizon, there was nothing else to see. It was evening, but that was almost impossible to tell. You couldn't see the sky through the smoke that poured ceaselessly from a thousand smokestacks, arranged across the hillside that led up from the docks in cascading layers. From the ship that was approaching it looked like it was ceaselessly moving.

Fire Prince Zuko didn't pay much attention to those kinds of things. His eyes were fixed on the approaching ship, emerging out of the haze of the evening sun through the layers of smog, and didn't waver for one moment out of boredom or impatience. His was a one-track mind. If there was something to achieve, nothing else accorded his interest. Standing at the end of a mooring, moving not an inch, the wind making his mop of hair flip around all over the place, impervious to the chills his exposure inflicted through his light, functional clothes, he waited for the troop carrier to make its final approach to the Fire Nation dock.

The ship, smaller than the massive cargo ships docked in the other moorings, approached straight down the middle of the huge piers towards Zuko's position. The crew was trained to approach fast and off-load quick, an assault tactic, and while that was redundant in a major Fire Nation port, it was so second nature to these people that they never once considered heading in remotely slowly. They came to a halt a few feet before the edge of the dock, and the forward gangplank plunged into the stone ground right in front of Zuko, kicking up dust and masonry. Zuko didn't even flinch.

Out of the hatchway came five enormous beasts, war-rhinos. They charged down the gangplank and flung themselves before Zuko's steady stance. The riders steadied their steeds, eyes focused in fierceness and determination. Kachi, the elder, long-bearded guan do-wielder, gritted his teeth as he steadied his rhino. Vachir, the silent and haughty Yu-Yan archer, kept his face rock solid as he stabilised. Yeh-Lu, the armoured grenadier, was unknowable, and was professional about taming the beast. Ogedei, the smarmy pony-tailed ball-and-chain fighter, grinned as he steadied the rhino with one hand. Only inches from the rapid contortions of these mighty creatures, Zuko didn't budge from his position, and simply waited for the riders of these beasts, more powerful and dangerous than the beasts themselves, to cease their display. The leader of the squad, nose-ringed and overly-muscled, stared down in grim determination and spoke to the boy before them.

"We're here to take part in the mission to track down the traitor, General Iroh," Colonel Mongke growled to the point, "you will take us to the commander immediately."

Zuko's sullen face blinked for the first time that evening, "that would be me."

Now it was Mongke's turn to blink, and look utterly incredulous at the possibility of serving under a 16 year old boy. The muscled soldier groaned, "oh no…". He looked to the other Rough Rhinos and groaned some more, "oh no, oh no, you gotta be kidding me!"

"He doesn't seem like the joking type," Ogedei commented wryly.

Mongke ignored the comment and continued to be livid, "there is _no way _I am serving under a deluded self-serving brat with no idea of duty or loyalty!"

Zuko's angered snarl was interrupted by a stern rebuke from the shadows of the cargo ship next to them, an authoritative female voice, "you had better hold your tongue before insulting a Prince of the Fire Nation." Azula emerged from the shadows, looking stern, only for a devious smile to lighten up her features as she made an act of realising something, "not that I'd necessarily _disagree_. It's the principle of the thing, you realise."

"My apologies, your highness," Mongke drawled, immediately indicating that he didn't particularly like Azula either, but he was capable of a grudging respect for the conqueror of the Earth Kingdom. He made a concerted attempt to be smart about the situation, "but with all due respect, this isn't really our area of expertise."

"And with all due _my _respect it wasn't my decision…" Zuko glanced over at Azula, who was still smiling.

"You are one of the most effective and versatile units in the Fire Army," Azula pointed out, "you've proven your worth in pretty much every variety of operation they've come up with a name for. And as an added bonus you're familiar with the target as both an ally and an opponent."

"That's funny, I seem to be familiar with our 'ally' here being an opponent as well," Mongke raised an eyebrow at Zuko.

"Yeah…and my foot is familiar with your head," Zuko stared back, "so I wouldn't go bringing up the subject if I were you."

"See? You found common ground already!" Azula pointed out. She seemed to be relishing the opportunity to sow her brother's eventual doom into the structure of his outfit.

"This is a baby-sitting operation, isn't it?" gruff and weary Kachi spoke up condescendingly. Colonel Mongke, at first enraged, finally rolled his eyes as he realised what was going on.

"Okay…I get it…I get what's going on…" Mongke nodded his head as he looked upon the siblings, "I've been dragged halfway across the world to play an insignificant part in someone else's feud. There could be a _million and one _things I could be doing right now involving ending the war once and for all, but instead I have to spend four days getting everything packed into a sardine tin going so fast my eardrums bust, just to enter a partnership with _your Agni-blessed majesty _here that could never possibly work."

"Well to be fair you should have been here this morning," Zuko crossed his arms, "and don't use 'the attacks' as an excuse. You never had to go anywhere near the Mo Ce Sea."

"He does have a point," Yeh-Lu spoke reasonably from beneath his suit, "Ogedei was taking an unreasonable amount of time acquiring scenting lotions."

"I'm not used to spending days in a sweaty tin can," Ogedei defended himself, "unlike someone I could mention…"

"Your Highness," Mongke called to Azula, "if there's another team tracking down Iroh, I respectfully request a transfer."

"Nope, this is it!" Azula gleamed, "if you want revenge against one, you're going to have to waive it for another."

"…perfect," Mongke decided, sighing heavily, "very well, Prince Zuko, what are your orders?"

"We're going to have to be swift and flexible if we want to catch Iroh, so first of all…" Zuko stepped forward to stroke the horn of the nearest rhino affectionately, admiring its build and its physique. The Prince patted it gently and turned away, "…lose the rhinos."

"Lose the…what do you mean, 'lose the rhinos'!?" Mongke demanded the disinterested Prince to answer, "we can't lose the rhinos! We're the Rough Rhinos! It's our trademark! Just being big and looking mean isn't enough!"

"They'll be a liability," Zuko turned to the Colonel, "this operation is going to be unique in our history. We'll have to search the Fire Nation islands themselves. What is the norm in the Earth Kingdom is not going to do the trick here. The first sign of hulking war beasts and Iroh is going to sneak out the back door, along with anyone else he's made friends with. We need to be _inconspicuous_. And that brings us to the second point: Iroh is not the only target."

"Oh? Pray tell what this sudden addendum to our mission statement is, Your Majesty?" Mongke half-challenged the upstart.

"We're going after the Avatar," Zuko declared.

Mongke was stunned. Stunned enough to voluntarily give up his steed, wander slowly up the Fire Prince, towering over the boy, and say straight to his face "you are completely insane."

"What are you going to do?" Zuko stared back into the eyes of the man a full head taller than him, "challenge me to an Agni Kai?"

Mongke briefly wondered if the kid was bluffing, but his own memories of bruises and cuts were provoked by that steely, determined gaze piercing into him. Zuko meant it, and he easily had the bite to back up his bark. Mongke made a carefully calculated retreat, "no, I'm good."

"Thank you," Zuko turned away from the disembarking Rough Rhinos, barking his last order, "we'll begin the search as soon as possible!"

"Can we get our rhinos stabled and our stuff unpacked first, at least?" Kachi asked from the viewpoint of practicalities. Zuko stopped and turned. Something strange had happened to his face. It looked…genuinely concerned.

"Of course," Zuko said calmly, "it would be a good idea to get yourselves a place to sleep tonight, to rest up after your trip. Oh!" Zuko remembered, pointing up into Nagaoka's streets, "I passed by a herbalists on the way down. They might have something to help with your eardrums, Colonel. We'll meet up outside the Prefectural Office at daybreak tomorrow." Zuko turned back to the squad, still looking honestly concerned, "I hope we'll work well together."

Zuko turned and walked away to the other side of the pier. Mongke stared at Zuko's diminishing figure, along with the other Rough Rhinos. Kachi stepped up beside the Colonel and spoke first, "uh…did _Prince Zuko _just voice concern for our well-being…?"

"Don't linger over it," Mongke ordered, "if we do, our rhinos might sprout wings and the world will come to an end."

Zuko left the Rough Soon-To-Be-Rhino-less behind and walked towards Azula, who still looked supremely smug after witnessing Zuko's less-than-brilliant reception. Two long pillars of shadow closed together on the dock, framed by the orange-red hue of the evening sun. Zuko stared down his sister and spoke abrasively, "there is absolutely no reason why you should be here."

"The thought that I'd be genuinely interested in how you're coping never crossed your mind did it?" Azula's head rolled to one side in feigned interest. Zuko remained silent, feeling that such a fake statement didn't deserve the dignity of a response. Azula filled the silence with a note of triumph, "good. You're learning."

"The only lesson I'm learning is never to trust you, Azula," Zuko spat. Azula stifled a giggle.

"Looks like I put too much faith in your education," Azula decided, "it wasn't my idea to send for the Rough Rhinos and delay you for four days. I don't have that much control over our Nation's deployments. Believe it or not, Zuzu, there are other people in the Fire Nation hierarchy besides me who think of you as a worthless waste of space."

"Is that what you think of me?" Zuko challenged.

"I'm flexible…" Azula smirked, "you have to understand, Prince, that you're pretty much the only man in the Fire Nation who believes the Avatar is alive. Anyone else might think you're lost, confused, and clinging for some kind of certainty now your reason for existing has been cut out from under you."

"I'm not interested in your psychological insight, Azula," Zuko turned to leave, "if you don't believe me, get lost. I'm going to continue my task even if I have to do it on my own. I always have, after all."

"Unlike you, I don't deal in dichotomies," Azula called after Zuko, "if you're so certain about this, then there's something you know that no one else does. Keeping information from the Fire Nation can be considered treason, a state of affairs you seem to be uniquely familiar with."

Zuko stopped and paused at Azula's comment, clenching his fists, "I'm not a traitor."

"I struck the Avatar with lightning, at point-blank range," Azula commented, "if you know some way _anyone _could survive that, I'd be very interested."

"It's none of your business what I know," Zuko turned his face aside, half-facing Azula, "this is my mission, being run my way. You shouldn't even be here. You're here on your own with no entourage and no escort, just to sneak into my business and taunt me! Shouldn't you be searching for the Blue Spirit!?"

"I am," Azula stated coldly.

Zuko turned back towards Azula, eyes widened, "what does that mean!?"

"Whatever you want it mean…" Azula grinned. Waving Zuko off, the Fire Princess walked away from the waterfront, calling haughtily, "remember Dad's command! Either Uncle comes back dead or you do!"

Zuko watched Azula walk away, seething with anger. He expressed it by torching the air around him as he strode away in a stromp. Azula, safely out of sight behind the shadow of a cargo ship, whispered into the darkness, "see how I swerved between nasty and nice? You could learn from that. Keeps him nice and mouldable, like a little pet. Feel like having a pet for a boyfriend?"

"Shut up, Azula," Mai groaned from the shadows from where she and Ty Lee had been watching.

"Lighten up, Mai, I'm making sure your lover-boy stays alive," Azula commented, "he's found a certainty, and we need to get rid of that certainty."

"So we're going after the Avatar again?" Ty Lee spoke up hopefully, "or…maybe his buddies? Even just one?"

"Maybe," Azula decided, "keep that thought in mind. Zuko is being coy about something for sure. We need to know what he knows, to follow him every step of the way. It looks like I'll be needing more resources than I anticipated. Pity. Still, so long as the end result is the same, it'll all be worth it."

The inhabitants of the evening-soaked docks seemed to be dispersing in all directions, leaving the three girls with little reason to stick around. The air silent of everything except the low rumble of machinery from Nagaoka, Ty Lee piped up a question, "uh…Azula? I don't suppose I could see my family first, could I?"

"No," Azula answered unhesitantly, and that was the end of the matter.

* * *

"We never get a break, do we?" Sokka spoke in utter exhaustion, breaking a long silence that had descended ever since they'd managed to drag Aang into their quarters. It was surprisingly spacious, presumably because of Xuan's insatiable need for appeal, but it was also obvious that demands for space had seen them shoe-horned into accommodation that was blatantly unsuitable for them, having two large beds laid side-by-side between the door and the side of the hull, where a small porthole was situated. There were a couple of stools and a long shelf on the other side of the room from the beds, where a large mirror was set into the metalwork. Everything was made of metal in this place except the bedsheets.

Nestled inside the sheets of one of the beds, incidentally, was a comatose 12-year-old short-haired boy, resting soundly. Beside him, Katara sat on a stool, levitating a small puddle of glowing water over him, deeply concentrated in the act of healing. So concentrated, in fact, that she didn't even notice Sokka's comment. She was on a single track of thought, to keep the last hope for peace in their lifetimes alive. Momo retained a deep interest in Katara's attempts, perched on the end of the bed and purring softly. Elsewhere in the room, Toph was leaning heavily against the hull, too wrapped up in her own troubles to really pass comment on someone else's. She was concerned alright, but she was even more distressed as her mind translated the short distance between herself and Aang's stricken body as a mighty bottomless chasm. No sarcastic quip was going to change that.

Which left Sokka, perched on the other stool in the room, the only one in the room with the mind-set to pass comment. Seeing that his question was going gloriously unanswered, decided to answer it himself, "I'll take that as a yes."

Katara let her arms flow across and down, taking the water with them back into her pouch. Replacing the cork, she sighed heavily before turning to the others, her face downcast but steady, "he's stable…if that's any improvement. There's nothing I can do here. His body's fine, I made sure of that, but his head's really, really fuzzy. It's kind of like how he was a week ago."

"Frustrating much?" Sokka complained, "we drag his sorry carcass halfway across the world only for him to head back into the dead zone as soon as we actually get somewhere we can be safe in."

"But…he was doing fine…" Katara sounded absolutely lost, "he was okay just a few hours ago."

"No he wasn't," Toph spoke up, swallowing up her fear for a moment, "you just weren't paying attention. He's been phasing in and out for ages now. I kept noticing his heartbeat slowing down sometimes, getting unsteady, usually when we _weren't _paying attention. I just didn't notice it this time because…because…" Toph trembled, thumping her fist violently against the hull in anger "_rrgh! _Man, it was all going so good as well…"

Toph slumped against the wall, curling her knees up. Sokka, noticing the mood in the room was dropping precipitously, made some attempt to be pro-active about their chances, "so what happens now? Do we have to wait around for another couple of weeks or what?"

"I don't know," Katara answered honestly, "there's just something weird about his spirit. It's not like it's weak, it's just…distant."

Sokka was finding it hard keeping up with all this, "but…he's right there."

"He is…and he's not. I can't explain it," Katara was almost as much in the dark as Sokka. She'd never seen anything like this, "it's up to Aang. If he tries hard enough, he'll wake up. I know he will. He won't give up on us."

The attempt to purge herself of doubt was unsuccessful. Even Momo recognised this, purring mournfully as his ears drooped. Sokka was unfamiliar with this stuff…whatever this stuff was. It was tantamount to 'spiritual essence' stuff. He could never really grasp that, wanting things to have certainty, solidity, a common denominator that if it was beaten over with a club really harshly that it would at least do something. In this mindset, Sokka's silent gaze wandered over the porthole. It was heading into night, and the sky was darkening.

A chill came over him when he saw the crescent moon.

Breathing deeply, he leaned up off of his stool, declaring "well, we're not going to get anywhere just sitting around. I'm going to take a look around the ship. If we're attacked by anything…whatever this 'anything' is…I'd be more comfortable if I knew where the nearest lifeboat was."

"Okay, Sokka," Katara was in no mood to disagree, "I'll stay here in case Aang wakes up."

"Good," Sokka made a faltering attempt to look upbeat, "and…Toph? Maybe you should spend less time in a funk and more time trying to find a way around your problem."

"'A way around'?" Toph, who had been sulkingly self-absorbed, suddenly came over with a renewed determination. She crossed her legs and swerved herself around to face the hull, staring it down in a battle of wits, "I'm gonna do better than that. I'm gonna make the _Gang Shen _succumb to my will whether it wants to or not." Toph rapped the metal wall and pointed at it accusatively, "you hear that!? _You are not getting the better of the greatest Earthbender in the world!_"

Toph took a deep breath and concentrated. It was less a meditation and more a declaration of war against her limitations. Sokka, taking an involuntary step back from the dangerous little tyke, smiled nervously and pointed at the door, "okay then! Good luck Team Avatar! Positive thinking to achieve your goals and…so forth. I'm going now…"

Sokka inched towards the door and, quick as a flash, opened it, skirted through, and closed it behind himself with a metallic slam. The room's only source of conversation having fled, the inhabitants were left with their thoughts. Toph waited and listened, knelt facing the wall, trying to find some flaw in the pure, seamless Fire Nation metal. Momo was starting to develop an appetite and wandered over to Hong Yu Guo Service's complementary fruit bowl in search for sustenance. Katara watched over the unmoving boy, as still as when he first emerged from the iceberg.

Aang breathed slowly, but steadily. His connection to the world was a small, fragile thread, but it was still there. He had stood at a spiritual precipice. Now he was falling.

* * *

Nandi slapped another card down on the deck. He was on a roll. "I call upon Panlong, the Coiling Dragon, to drag you into the waters!"

"Aw man!" Niu complained, turning one of her cards over and stacking it into the 'deceased' pile…which was getting uncomfortably large, "you got all the best cards!"

Nandi chuckled. The card deck he acquired, 'Dragon Battle', was the latest craze to sweep the young of the Fire Nation, having gotten the ages 6-14 swapping, trading and battling like crazy. Almost every kid had a deck, and so it was with this group of six children, whittled down to three by Nandi's aggressive playing, collected around each other in a structure on the upper deck of the _Gang Shen_, lit up by small gas torches around the edge of the room. With the parents getting themselves some travel-induced shut-eye, the children were free to pursue their own entertainment. Although the kids were starting to realise it was only Nandi that was getting entertained.

"I dunno, but I think ye're about ta get _slaughtered_," tiny Bao smiled devilishly, slapping one of his own cards onto the deck, "Jiaolong, the horned dragon! See? His 'surprise' rating cancels out yours, and his horns add +2 to attack."

"Oh dear…" Nandi flipped over his card, seemingly unconcerned over the loss of his star piece, "it seems ya got me. Oh well, can't argue with the facts. Ya beat my Panlong, fair and square. Still, his sacrifice ain't in vain, when he's got a _Dragon King _to call on!"

Nandi slammed down another card, the Dragon King of the West, easily trumping any water dragon by his fiery authority. Bao slumped where he was seated, and shoved his cards in Nandi's direction. Bitterly, he said, "you're such a dork."

"Nuh uh! You're just a sore loser!" Nandi collected up the cards and turned towards the only player left in the game, challenging, "you wanna take your chances, too?"

Niu considered the challenge carefully, and decided that it wasn't worth her time to feed the scruffy-haired boy's ego. She collected her cards back up, indicating that she was pulling out of the game, "you're no fun to play with."

"Come on, guys, let's leave this geek," a tall, thin girl named Ju pointed behind herself towards the deck outside, "let's go outside! I wanna go see the terrapin-sharks!"

"Terrapin-sharks!?" a pudgy boy named Tai got excited at the prospect, "I never saw a terrapin-shark before!"

"Yeah! They swim in front of ships and jump up and down and stuff!" a sly girl named Ya bragged, "_IIIII _seen 'em before…"

"I wanna see 'em!" Bao, a wiry lad, leapt up.

"Me too!" Niu clamoured, running after everyone else.

Left to his own devices, Nandi chuckled heartily as he collected all the cards to himself. With his new card pack, he was undefeatable. He would be known far and wide as the undisputed master of Dragon Battle. He clutched the card deck to himself and laughed loudly at the prospect. Calming down a little, still on the edge of megalomaniacal laughter, he said through barely controlled giggles, "I'm so alone…"

Leaping up, Nandi ran after the terrapin-shark watchers, "hey guys! Wait for me! I wanna see! I wanna see!"

* * *

Sokka had long ceased his search for escape routes, getting a good grasp of where to find lifebelts and other accoutrements. He wasn't trying especially hard anyway. That wasn't the reason why he left. Alone on the upper deck, he rested his arms on the side railing, the cold wind a welcome relief from the stuffiness indoors and the endless summer heat that had pulverised his sweat glands during the day.

He was enshrined in blue darkness, the low rumble of the engines behind him, the churning of the sea beneath him, and in the distance the receding coastline of the Earth Kingdom, the turning of a final page in an acrimonious and ultimately futile chapter of their adventure. In the starry gloom he could make out two mountainous bumps, and guessed them to be the Yalu Pillars Aang described once. Except now it had an arc connecting the two, obviously man-made. A fitting tribute to their last sight of the place, he felt. The mighty earth pillars tamed and dominated by the Fire Nation. Sokka sighed and rested his head on his arms. He was alone with his thoughts.

He looked up at the crescent moon, claiming ownership over the heavens. No, he realised, he wasn't alone. Not technically at any rate. The moon looked down and seemed ready to engage in conversation. Sokka obliged.

"Okay…" Sokka held his arms out at the moon, "so you might be asking, 'Sokka, why are you heading straight into the Fire Nation, with no hesitation, no second thoughts and no idea what you're even going to do when you get there?' Well, I'm glad you asked that."

Sokka leaned onto the rail and smiled as he recounted his carefully worded explanation, "you see, despite my complete and utter incomprehension of everything to do with the Avatar Spirit or anything spooky and mysterious, I have taken a solemn oath, a sworn duty to follow Aang wherever he leads. Sure, he's not exactly _leading _right now, since he seems to have had the spiritual equivalent of something heavy falling on his head…I'm guessing…but still I am determined! This whole expedition is for selfless and higher-minded reasons."

The moon stared down accusingly, and under the unchanging gaze Sokka's grin wavered. He looked away in embarrassment, "okay, I'll fess up. I'm going because of Suki." Sokka, momentarily downcast, looked back up at the moon and laughed nervously, "oh that's right! You probably don't know her. Well…you might have seen her once. Gosh…that must have been awkward. Eheh…"

Sokka turned away again, more serious, "she was the first girl I fell in love with. I mean, yeah, I loved you too, it's just…I can't just keep away from everyone forever, just because I don't want to get too close." Sokka looked at the moon straight in the face, "you understand that, right!? I mean…you understood that better than I did. You tried not to get too close, because of what it might mean…but I already made my mind up about that. Just because I might lose someone doesn't mean I can't love them. I made my mind up a long time ago."

Sokka contemplated some more, making an effort to pigeon-hole something resembling logic into this conversation, "yeah…you wouldn't have known that, would you? Being that I kissed her during the day and all. See? I'm _perfectly comfortable _talking about these things in front of you because I know you'll understand. Isn't that great!? Such an open and honest relationship we have!"

The moon stared back, and Sokka melted a little inside, "…sorry. But…I made a promise to you. I swore an oath to protect you and I failed. I don't know if it could have turned out differently, but…this time? This time I'm gonna _make _it turn out differently! My oath to protect you was an oath to protect the one I loved. So that means I'm gonna do whatever it takes to save Suki. Short of _nothing_, you hear me?"

The moon couldn't really offer an opinion, so Sokka was left to rant some more, "I mean it's not fair! One dead girlfriend, that's horrible enough. But _two _dead girlfriends? Who the heck deserves that kind of luck!? Is this gonna be a regular thing!? I fall for someone, take our blessings at a shrine, and then, _just after _our first kiss, she gets squished beneath a cavalcade of roaming clowns. Is that how it's gonna be!? Huh!?"

The moon was silent. Sokka fumed, "yeah. I know. It isn't fair to offload all my problems onto you. In fact, it's utterly useless. You know why? Because I'm talking to _an inanimate object floating in the sky!_" Sokka breathed harshly, muscles tensed, and he snapped at the chubby kid who had paused to look at him, "_and what are you staring at!?_"

"N…nuthin, sir! Really!" Tai stepped back a few paces in terror before running headlong towards the fore of the ship.

"Come on, pig-boy! Hurry up!" a kid at the far end called out as Sokka realised he wasn't alone on the deck anymore. Looking out at the crescent moon, he just saw a moon. The spell was broken, for now at least. It had been…somewhat cathartic, Sokka decided. He sighed and turned indoors, leaving the upper deck to the young 'uns and deciding that the healthiest thing for him was to get some rest.

Unbeknownst to the disguised Water Warrior, the moon wasn't the only thing watching him from the open sea. Slowly and steadily, the sea rippled with the wake of something lurking beneath the waves. They had been watching, and waiting, for just the tiniest mistake.

* * *

"D'ya see anything?" Ju asked, leaning over the railings at the fore of the ship. She could see the waves being parted by the prow, the dark foam of the sea and the side of the _Gang Shen _itself, but terrapin-sharks were a somewhat elusive sight.

"Nuthin' here," Bao declared, looking over at the waves studiously, "I bet Ya was fibbing."

"Nuh uh! I saw them! They was big and had these _huuuuge _big teeth," Ya asserted, peering closely at the sea and willing it to reveal what she wanted it to reveal.

"Fibber, fibber, dirtball-lipper!" Bao taunted, even though he really wanted to see the terrapin-sharks as well.

"Hey! Isn't that one?" Tai pointed, "it's been following us all this time! It looks like a giant serpent!"

"That's _foam_, you fat dummy!" Niu argued, being right next to him and seeing the same things he saw. The woosh of the wind, the chuff of the funnel and the roar of the engines were making it hard to hear each other, but they persevered. They wanted to see _something _that would make it easier to avoid playing one-sided games with Nandi. They had no such luck, however, as the boy they had been trying to get away from approached.

"Step aside, morons, I'll show ya how it's done!" Nandi came up behind all of them and took up a place between Bao and Ya, looking over carefully at the churning water.

"Oh yeah, cuz ye're just perfect at _everything_, aren'tcha?" Bao spoke sarcastically.

"Not _everything_…just most things," Nandi smiled deviously as he looked into the dark recesses of the sea. Near where he was looking a long ripple, almost unnoticeable except for the odd breaking of the wave. He concentrated, tongue sticking out, closely.

The ripple became more noticeable the more he looked at it, become deeper and more refined. Pretty soon he was able to distinguish a calm area of water where the rough waves avoided it. This space beneath the surface of the water sucked in his attention like a whirlpool, taking in more and more of his senses. The rest of the world seemed to dim in importance, as the waves became subsumed, and the deafening sounds of the engines, waves, wind and furnace became little more than distant echoes.

In the centre of this annulled space, the messy-haired boy began to tell the features of something inhabiting this space. Only outlines at first, but gradually coming into focus, was a round, white object. It was fuzzy underneath the blue of the sea, but with the increasing stillness came resolution. He could see two black holes in the centre of the object, coming into sharper and sharper relief. It looked like a mask. It _was _a mask, staring straight at him. The boy was transfixed. He had found something for sure.

"Hey! Did ya see…" Nandi turned around to address the other children, but no one else was on deck. It felt unnatural. The wind had gone, the deck was as steady as solid ground, and the sound of his voice was the only sound to be heard. It felt like he was in a small room, an enclosure, even though he was obviously on an upper deck. His skin trembled in nervousness as he felt those eyes still on him. Nandi's eyes snapped this way and that, but everyone had disappeared, "hey, where did you go!?"

Nandi called out into the eerie stillness, clutching his own arms. He was afraid to move from his spot, stuck fast and alone. Then it happened. As he was facing towards the deck, the veins in his chest suddenly felt like they were about to burst. A vice gripped his lungs and his torso was jerked violently backwards. His body was dragged over the railings, off the side of the _Gang Shen_.

The sound of the wind and waves and the rumble of the engines, and the sound of a body plunging into the blackness of the Mo Ce Sea, returned all at once. There was no one left to hear it.

**To Be Continued…**

**_Avatar: The Last Airbender _**Concept and Characters © Nickelodeon 2005-06

* * *

**Author's Note: **You can tell **_Ringu _**was one of my favourite movies. :p

Where the **_Avatar _**staff were influenced by Hayao Miyazaki, GAiNAX and Hong Kong Action Movies, I was influenced by Satoshi Kon and J-Horror...with healthy doses of Stanley Kubrick and Jean-Pierre Jeunet just to round things out. Not that Miyazaki and GAiNAX don't receive a nod or two. Heh...


	3. Qigong

Aang didn't feel the wind on his face, but he didn't feel the ground beneath his feet either. He was going over clouds stretching off to the ends of the earth…maybe beyond that. He found himself seeing…or sensing…a world where possibilities still had shape. Where concepts like 'infinite' and 'void' still meant 'lots' and 'a big black blob'. Where time was still a matter of going backwards and forwards along a straight line. These would fall away…given time…but for now Aang was simply getting used to the idea of dispensing with gravity. It wasn't hard. He _was _an Airbender…maybe not for much longer but that made ideas like 'drifting' and 'disconnecting' a little easier to grasp.

It occurred to him that he wasn't flying Appa, like he usually did when these clouds appeared. Of course not. He didn't need his companion. He could have been flying Appa if he wanted to, but he was fine flying on his own. The clouds were bathed in colour…it didn't matter which one…and they lacked clarity, making them look more like floating cotton than water vapour.

The clouds…they were familiar alright. The subject of plenty of sleepless nights. The clouds ahead of him especially so. They coalesced into something black and heavy, thunder cracking and almost solid with moisture. He knew it was supposed to mean something…something bad…but the meaning escaped him. Even as Aang delved into the maelstrom, arms spread, he was aware that he was supposed to be feeling dread, but he wasn't sure what that meant anymore. And he was spreading his arms? He didn't need to spread his arms. Ah well…it felt good.

The clouds enclosed him in darkness. Thunder cracked and boomed, but even if lightning coarsed near him, it seemed dim and distant, like sounds coming from over a hill or through a blanket. He looked ahead, but looked around, behind and besides…around him were people he knew. The people he left behind. The Air Nomads.

They seemed happy. He was sure they were okay.

The figures doubled and trebled. They were joined by people Aang knew and some he didn't…but of course he knew them. There was his mother, dressed his blue. There was his mother dressed in green. A small child, a Prince of the Fire Nation, he remembered bouncing him on his knee. That wasn't long ago, he recalled.

There were his friends. Toph, Sokka…Kuzon and Bumi. They seemed to be talking to each other, the same age as each other. That was nice, it'd help them to get along, he felt. There was Zuko. Aang couldn't tell what he looked like. He metamorphosed at a pace he couldn't keep up with. Aang was seeing everywhere, and Katara stepped into his vision. She didn't seem to notice him, and just wandered from cloud to cloud. Sometimes she was in blue and sometimes she was in red…there wasn't much distinction between the two.

They seemed to be getting along. He felt it was time. One of the figures stopped to look at him, the only one who noticed him. She grinned.

Aang was facing everywhere when the lightning in the clouds coalesced and coursed through his back. His back was everywhere too.

The figures drifted away, and the clouds parted. A clear sky came over him as Aang fell. He fell for forever and a second. The sea was warm. It was such a familiar feeling, this sensation of plunging, slowly into the water, letting go of whatever secured him. He didn't take Appa's reins with him this time. Good, nothing to fall back on. But he didn't remember the water feeling this warm. Nothing dramatic was going to happen, no sudden urge to get away or get back. He was already away. And already back. He just felt like drifting off, becoming the ocean, losing the sharp distinction between his skin and the water. It was so silly and illusory, this physicality, this insistence on separation. It just made everyone feel lonely. Aang didn't want to be lonely anymore.

Through the haze of the water, there was stillness. No voice stirred, no bubbles bubbled. But something was here, something that shouldn't have been here. He looked dreamily into the water, and there ahead of him, floating completely still, was a range of masks. They were fixed and determined, numbering in the dozens, easily countable if Aang had the faculties left, but their sheer physical presence in this realm was disquieting. Their round pale faces and black eyes stared at Aang. They might have been accusative if you wanted them to be, or sad, or indifferent, or even contented, but accusation was definitely the aura coming across. Aang's body was held up in the water, clothes rippling and eyes blinking. He had clothes to ripple and eyes to blink, in this place. The masked creatures didn't speak.

_Our children._

They didn't speak. It was something else. A feeling. An intuition.

_You promised to protect our children._

Icicles were dragged up Aang's spine. There wasn't much difference between action and metaphor here. Just a sense that something was wrong, very wrong.

_Give us back our children._

Aang was starting to panic. There wasn't anywhere to go in this water. He huddled himself. The water was cold.

_GIVE US BACK OUR CHILDREN._

The water was so cold…

* * *

Toph was half-awoke by a low whine from the direction she supposed the bed was in. Her head swivelled around towards the sound, which was unmistakably from Aang's throat, and deduced it to be something like shivering. The blind Earthbender was weighing whether or not to wake Katara, who was asleep on the stool beside the bed, body leant over the blanket, but after a short while the shivering died down, and Aang just went back to being unconscious again. Toph lingered. She wanted badly to know what was going on with his body, if it was like the other times he'd faded out of existence, physiologically speaking.

That little interruption over with, Toph swivelled back to what she was doing. She had spent the night sitting cross-legged in front of the hull, trying to figure out what it was about _this _particular metal that made it so different to _that _particular metal. She had risked punching it, and after several goes of this had been asked to stop since their room was attracting some unwelcome attention from sleepless fellow passengers. What little she had managed to detect from these outbursts was utterly useless…fragments of earth so small that it barely qualified as more than dust specks. Bending _that _might have resulted in a hole the size of a pin-head inside the hull, and even that would have been an achievement.

So now she did what she did best. She waited. And she listened. She waited just like she waited in Gaoling all her life for something remotely interesting to show up, missing opportunity after opportunity just because it wasn't proper for the daughter of a prominent landlord to actually show some backbone, much less such a _blind, delicate _little girl like herself. And she listened like she listened to every little excuse her parents made as to why she wasn't allowed to do anything by herself. The reasons were elaborate, and so convincing that they convinced themselves. They were sure that any attempt by her to show some independence was going to end in tears. _She was not going to give them the satisfaction._

Toph placed a hand on the metal, and tried to internalise what she felt. There was a surface there, and it extended outwards, but she couldn't tell where it began or ended. If she felt it with her fingertips, it felt like five separate squares of metal had arranged themselves in thin air for her fingers to touch. It seemed like she was standing on the top of a tall metal pillar, in the middle of a chasm. Apparently a lot of mystical, spiritual people used the very technique of squatting on tall pillars to find some inner truth to the universe. Jerks. When this was all over she was going to track down every single one of those pillars and _submerge _them.

She couldn't feel anything on Appa's back, either. But somehow…at least before he lost his saddle…that was better. It was a confined space, and she could tell where the limits were. It's very hard to be surprised when there were only two other people and a winged lemur present to surprise her. She remembered Sokka trying that once, sneaking up behind her and yelling 'flying shark attack!' She'd waited until they'd landed again and then bended mud in his face, flipped him to one side, encased his head in the ground and screamed 'help! Help! Sokka's being _slowly and painfully _devoured by a giant croco-python!' He…stopped making pranks after that. Nandi was certain for the same treatment if she could just figure out how to encase his head in iron jaws. That would be _cool_.

Toph sighed and pulled the hand back. It wasn't any good feeling it…no matter what, it was never going to budge. She wasn't as fretful as she had been at first, but she was still frustrated beyond belief. Pounding that wall had been good stress relief for her, so it was getting hard to concentrate with her adrenaline constantly running high. She'd barely slept all night, staying in that same crouched position while she cursed the material facing her. She didn't have a choice. She was _not _going to keep feeling so vulnerable. She _couldn't_.

She listened to the metal. It didn't feel like it was there in front of her, but it had to be. There had to be something to give it away to some other sense than the hands and the feet. The air was still and silent. The hull had been getting warm to the touch, so the sun must have been coming up. She listened harder. There was a rumble elsewhere in the ship, the sound of the engines, which made everything clatter whenever they changed speed or direction. The clatter showed itself up in the metal. The screws rattled in their hinges. She could hear where the screws were. That was progessed.

Harder. The joins were sliding, imperceptibly but slightly, from two separate forces, from the sea and from the engine. The sea was the great unknowable, the big…wet thing that stretched for eternity, a massive expanse of void that…best not to think about it, really. The engine, that was a better thing to concentrate on, nice and solid. Where the sea was random and chaotic, the engine was constant and predictable. The rumble came through all the joins, where she could hear the edges, and where the floor began. In her mind's eye, the world became a wire frame. That was definitely progress, but not the progress she wanted. She didn't want to know the edges, she wanted to know…_it_.

But just as the joins, the solid objects, could be heard at the very edge of her perception, everything seemed to organise itself around the sound of the engine. It was this that Toph concentrated on next. It reverberated throughout the whole ship, and when she concentrated harder she could tell that the ship was built around it. The echoes and surges, the clinks and clangs, all seemed to pulse out of this heart. After a short distance away from her body the sounds dissipated into a riotous jumble, but she could tell what was in the room by using the engine as a marker buoy. If she concentrated on the engine itself, maybe she could tell the layout of the entire ship. It came as something of light-headed relief to be able to tell some kind of shape of her surroundings, even if it was only their room and a couple of other rooms next to theirs, but she'd only achieved this by staying utterly rock still. As soon as she herself moved, all that perception would be gone and she'd have to start all over again. She needed to make the most of what she'd been able to pick up here.

Toph listened even harder. The engine. It wove a web around it, and that web was the ship. Through the web she came to centre, trying to pick out what those individual rumbles that resolved themselves in her stretch of hull actually did. Some became identifiable. There was something constant, that kept a constant pace no matter what, something stuck in one defined place but always moving. Rotating. That had to be it. An axle of some kind, constantly twisting. Then there was a fast, regular swish, that must have been connected to the axle. The whole thing made a turbine. It had to be powered by something. That something surged through, making a high-pitched squeal. Vapour, being sent through pipes. What were they turning? A propeller. The low, repetitive rhythm that drove the ship forward no matter what was pushing against it.

Identifying the sounds led to the objects themselves. She could tell what they were, suspended in space some distance away, the clearest thing in the whole ship. She could tell how many cogs there were, how many pipes led into it, how many furnace doors were open as the coal was piled in, and while still imprecise it was detectable, a large collection of substances that reflected, responded, vibrated and stomped. The substance. She couldn't just hear it, she could feel it, a distant object, peered at through a telescope. The sound had led her towards it, but now the engine was making itself known in its own terms. It was _sensual_, _material_, _solid_.

It was Earth.

"That's it!" Toph cried in joy. Her loud exclamation broke her concentration and the wireframe of the room disappeared, but that didn't matter. The engine remained, diminished but perceivable. No more than the feeling of an ant on the back of her shoulder, but it was there al-right. An island of solidity in a sea of…well…sea.

"Mmmnnnggahhmmm…" Sokka's sleep had been interrupted by Toph's pronouncement, and he mumbled exhaustedly, "…nuuuhhh…Yue, it's _Suki's _turn ta dance the flamammegghhuuubblll…"

Sokka went back to sleeping in the other double-bed, on the far side of Aang. This made the warrior pretty much the only one of them to get a comfortable sleep last night. With his sudden half-asleep proclamation drifting in the air, Toph felt suitably annoyed to plot yet more arbitrary and random things to annoy the Water Tribesman with. Still feeling elated at getting an ant-resting-on-shoulder's shred of 'sight' back, she smiled as she picked herself up off the floor and felt for the nearest bedpost. Running her fingers along the bottom of Aang's bed, her hand ended up sliding up Momo's back.

The animal wasn't given much time to wake up from his slumber before Toph picked him up and planted him on her shoulder. Purring softly, Momo relented to be Toph's slave once more as she felt out to the other bed's metallic ridge. Finding it, she pulled herself aside into the gap between the beds where Katara was sleeping soundly in her stool. Before her, in the blankets of the bed, Sokka slept soundly.

Toph cleared her throat, "okay, Sokka? You're gonna have to wake up now. I think I've found some way around my problem and I want you to help me get down there. Sure, I could do it easily enough myself, but since you're always so _eager _to help…" Toph drummed her fingers against the edge of the bed and waited, "'cuz if you don't volunteer your services…I'm gonna have to start poking. Now…I don't know what I'm going to be poking _at_, so if my finger becomes lodged in your ear-hole, you only have yourself to blame." Sokka smacked his lips as he drifted deeper into slumberland. Toph shrugged, "suit yourself."

Toph prepared both of her index fingers to attack the curled body of Sokka, and proceeded to jab mercilessly. Sokka shifted, mumbled, shook, grunted and generally acted like two bony fingers were prodding him in all kinds of sensitive areas. Sokka made one more attempt to keep sleeping, but out on the fringes of sleepy-time, his mind sensed something was amiss. His nerves acted on impulse, spinning himself bodily across the bed and onto his knees, pulling his boomerang out from under his pillow and muscularly slinging the sharp end at the intruder as hard as he could.

"nnnyyy_aaagh!We'reunderattackwe'reallgonnadieI'mgonnakillemallaaaag-_NNNGH!" Sokka screeched unintelligibly, glaring down at Toph, then screwing his eyes shut and putting _strenuous effort_ into stopping his boomerang embedding itself in Toph's head. Momo screeched in terror and covered his eyes at the impending doom of the blind Earthbender's skull. Toph didn't remotely flinch even when Sokka's weapon was half an inch from her scalp, still being carried by a momentum Sokka was barely able to keep in check. Only just succeeding in his task, Sokka threw his arms to either side and yelled at Toph, "what do you think you're _doing!? _You activated my automatic defence reflex! I could have shish-ka-bobbed you without realising!"

Toph pursed her lip in puzzlement, since out of all the talents Sokka held, being a light sleeper sure as heck wasn't one of them, "since when did you have an automatic defence reflex?"

"Ever since you joined the team…" Sokka yawned and scratched his back with the boomerang, asking tiredly, "so why were you digging your fingernails into my flesh?"

"I felt something! Something earthy! I think it's the engine, I can tell where it is!" Toph slapped the side of the bed excitedly, "if I can get down there, I might find metal that I can use! But…well…it's over there." Toph pointed at an angle towards somewhere just above the edge of the floor, beyond which lay the object she was able to detect, "annnnd…I'm over here."

"I take it this is a really weird, roundabout way to ask me to help you downstairs towards the engine-room?" Sokka blinked through shadowed eyes.

"No! Of course not!" Toph reacted angrily, "I don't need anyone's help! I can manage on my own! But…if you want to tag along, then…I guess…"

Sokka stared down the Earthbender with a dulled lack of all warmth or humour. It was going to be a long day. The warrior sighed, "metal you can use, huh?"

"Yeah…not like this cheap, cruddy Fire Nation stuff," Toph stamped her foot on said stuff, "if I just knew what it was I was doing last time, I know I can master it. I'm sure of it."

"'cuz nothing beats the greatest Earthbender in the world, huh?" Sokka mumbled without enthusiasm. Sokka yawned again and rubbed one of his eyes, stepping off of the bed, "alright, I'll just go drown my face in the sink first."

As he stood up to his full length, Sokka noticed that Katara was still sleeping soundly, her head resting on the blanket of Aang's bed as she sat in a stool beside the last of the Airbenders. Aang's blanket rose and fell with the Avatar's breaths, slowly and languidly, as he lay unconscious. Sokka wondered, "all that racket and she doesn't even budge…how long was she up?"

"Almost the whole night," Toph turned her head to one side to hear their breaths more clearly, "I should know, I was up the whole night hearing her walk about, do some healing and sigh really, really loudly. It's like how he was in a coma last time, except now I can't jump at every shift in his heartbeat. She wanted to stay awake in case he woke up, so she'd be there straight away."

"And now, later on when he's more likely to wake up, she can't because she's too exhausted," Sokka crossed his arms, "yeeeaaah…that's real long-term planning."

"Do you think he'll be okay?" Toph sounded uncharacteristically concerned. Sokka made the mistake of keeping silent and letting doubt seep into the atmosphere.

"Sure! Absolutely! He's the _Avatar_. He's got special powers and everything…he'll be better than fine soon enough, I'm sure…" Sokka drifted off, then stretched his arms, "nnnguh…might as well get going, while I'm still standing up."

"Yeah…" Toph held a hand up to Momo, perched on her shoulder, and petted the winged lemur. The soft purrs the creature emitted did little to assuage her doubts. She turned around and held a hand out for Sokka to take, leading her towards the door beyond the feel of her feet.

The metal portal let some cool air into the brightening, stuffy room as it opened and clunked loudly as it shut. Katara shivered briefly and clutched the blankets closer to herself. Aang didn't move a muscle.

* * *

With the sun out of sight on the other side of the rocky ridge, the morning sky was bathed in orange. It was far from the tropics further inland, where the cicadas drilled into your temples with their calling, or the seafront of the islands, where crow-gulls would always blacken your field of vision. Here, deep in the mountains, was nothing but herself. Azula, stripped down to an undershirt and functional skirt, peered down the craggy canyon towards the dark cave entrance ahead of her, savouring the stillness for its serenity. Serenity was something that few Firebenders appreciated, but she knew it to be an integral to the very nature of fire. Before, there is noise and movement, irregularity and disorder, and never a moment of clarity. But after? Stillness. Silence. Firebenders too often make the mistake of considering the violence and temper of fire to be an end in itself, but Azula always kept in mind its purpose. The purification was violent and consumptive, but serenity was always the ultimate end. She never forgot that.

"Your highness," Lih spoke from the top of the side of the ridge, to Azula's right, calmly and methodically, "the challenge before you is the hardest of all the 36 challenges prescribed by the Firebending tradition. The challenge of the Beishaolin caves. This challenge requires every single technique known to Firebending. The sun is reaching over the horizon. You must go through the ridge and reach the Songsham Outcrop before the sun does."

"You will pass the challenge if the sun has not yet emerged over the tip of Dengfeng Peak. Many have attempted this challenge, and few have succeeded. A larger few perish entirely," Loh spoke from Azula's left, also calmly, "this challenge may not be attempted more than once, and never with knowledge of what's to come. We expect you to perform adequately."

Azula paid heed to their advice. It was only ever advice and comment that the nuns gave, never instruction. She'd long since passed the point of needing any. All she needed the two of them for was observation, and for that she deeply valued them. She waited, hands on hips, bare feet planted into the craggy rock, and smiled.

She began.

Her feet found the softest surfaces to touch upon as she ran, but even when stepping on sharp rocks it wasn't troublesome. She never stayed on them long enough for them to hurt. Her arms pointed out behind her, she plunged into the darkness.

A wall of heat met her, but she never dared slow down. It was only heat, after all. At the end of the tunnel the darkness seemed to end and an orange glow lay across the dry cave surfaces. This was the obvious starting point. 'The door' was closed, and so needed 'to be opened'. The basic first step of Firebending. She clapped her hands together and unleashed a wave of fierce blue flames. First method of practice, to 'act as powerful as a sea wave'. The flow of gaseous flames was thick and deep, and tried to reassert itself, but Azula compensated, clenching her fists and 'swinging them as fast as a meteor flies', bursting pure blue fireballs from one hand and then the other, turning her breech into a hole.

'The door opened', and Azula leapt through the ring of fire. Perfect.

What she landed in was a long cavern, pockmarked with holes through which gaseous bursts of fire sprouted randomly. Through the tunnel in which flames burst from either side she needed to embark on the second step, 'leading the way', but to predict where the bursts were coming from she needed to tread lightly in order to hear the tell-tale hiss of fast-moving gas presaging a fire-burst, to 'be as quiet as a mountain', the second method of practice. Even before they burst out, she began to react, flinging her hands across the path of the fire-bursts, bending them away, and as she bended one she needed to keep an eye on the others. The second skill, to 'move her eyes as quickly as lightning'.

Azula became 'the general', and made it to the end without slowing down. Perfect.

Out of the long tunnel she came across a river of lava flowing from left to right in front of her, a sheer wall behind it with a small passage halfway up the side. She felt like she was shoving against a red hot iron, but even though her clothes were becoming drenched in sweat she paid little heed, her breath completely stable. She saw a series of small rocks lying across the river, and knew immediately what was needed, the third step of 'the stance'. She spun just before the edge of the river of lava, 'twisting her waist as quickly as a snake', and sending up a pillar of lava beneath the rock. She 'jumped as swiftly as a monkey does', through the third method of practice, onto each of the rocks, spinning herself to bring up the next pillar of lava, jumping higher each time. As the rocks fell away beneath her, Azula leapt further towards the thin hole, which after one mighty swing she eventually did.

Azula acted as 'the sitting horse', expertly perched upon the bottom edge of the hole. Perfect.

Beyond the hole was another vertical drop, this time towards a thin, crumbly layer of rock. There was no obvious exit, but the ground was punctuated by holes. Realising her task quickly, she 'fell as quickly as a bird flying down', using the fourth method of practice, and thrust her index and middle finger towards the ground, her energy coursing down her arm and through the rock.

She 'pierced the heart', the fourth step, and fell through the hole she made in the rocky floor. Perfect.

What greeted her was another river of lava, this one faster flowing. The rocks actually travelled with the molten blood of the planet, and Azula quickly honed onto a rock and 'rooted her feet firmly to the ground', the fourth skill. In depressing the rock a series of shrill cries came up, and around her bare sweaty feet Azula could see long tendrils of large winged centi-serpents clamber onto the rock and scream at her for destroying their precious eggs on their way to the hatching grounds. Smiling at the opportunity, the centi-serpents sprouted fangs and attacked her. Though the space on the rock was miniscule, she nevertheless managed to 'stand as firm as a rooster' and 'straight as a pine tree', the fifth and sixth methods of practice, while she dodged the poisoned fangs and ringed blue flame around herself, sending the creatures screaming into the lava to get away from _her _heat.

Azula demonstrated her 'martial skill', the fifth step, and leapt upon the first tunnel she came across. Perfect.

The tunnel climbed up diagonally, so she was past the half-way mark. She eventually popped up into a long, smooth, cylindrical tunnel that ran horizontally in front and behind her. In front was a few small light beams poking through thick igneous rock. Behind was a small orange glow, progressively getting larger and moving very fast, consuming the tunnel in its wake. Azula didn't hesitate as she ran towards the light beams, the heat behind her getting alarmingly close to frying her back, but the thought of perishing never once crossed her mind. She reached the small light beams, red glows poking through thick rock overhead, and 'turned as the wheel revolves', the seventh method, towards the wall of fire close to engulfing her. She was 'full of energy', the fifth skill, and focused it into the flame, stopping it with incredible blue heat and redirecting it through the ceiling and into the cavern above. She used the eighth method, and 'bent with the flexibility of a bow', to dodge the flame before it could incinerate her.

She made the 'short strike', the sixth step, before emerging into the cavern. Perfect.

The cavern was dark, even though Azula saw light beams earlier. The ground beneath her bare feet felt rough and scorched. She grinned as she realised, and waited, using the sixth skill, 'being calm and patient'. The walls of the cavern began to rumble, and Azula became bathed in light. Red light from the enormous and powerful fields of fire engulfing her in all directions, and blue light from the fire she herself spread out to counter-act the fire. She used the ninth method to become 'as light as a leaf', as the waves of fire converged on her protected blue shell and sent her rocketing upwards, towards the mid-section of a high stone pillar.

She acted like a 'plum flower', the seventh step, with only seconds to react. Perfect.

As soon as she landed, Azula's feet could never stay put, as fire burst through small holes on the top of the pillar, upon which a second tall pillar was perilously balanced. Azula spun around to avoid the flames, flicking sweat-drenched bangs out of her face, and saw in the edge of the cavern a long cliff-edge. She figured out the task and set to work undermining the foundations of the pillar, 'using her strength naturally' according to the seventh skill, with her bare feet, all the while avoiding them getting burnt with quick step movements. The pillar undermined, she made like the tenth method indicated and became 'as heavy as a piece of iron', and shoved it towards the cliff, leaping up and running along it as it fell.

She managed the 'shuffling steps', the ninth step, without so much as a scorch mark on her slick, bare, oily skin. Perfect.

The pillar crashed into the cliff and awoke a tremendous beast who had been enjoying a nap on the broad, flat surface Azula found herself leaping onto. She stopped before the arising of the incredulous iguana-rhino, one of the few beasts able to survive down here. It roared at Azula and approached slowly, huffing harshly with the clear intention of doing rather questionable things to her person. Nevertheless she was 'as slow as an eagle that hovers in the air', the eleventh method, and waited patiently for the beast to come to her. Towering above the Fire Princess, the creature opened its jaws and roared, whereupon Azula ducked down, bringing up her foot and unleashing an arc of blue flame right inside the top of the iguana-rhino's mouth. Screaming furiously, the beast reeled back and allowed Azula to leap up onto its foot, using that as a stepping stone for jumping beside the creatures neck and lacerating it with a swing of her fist. The beast turned its head towards Azula to cover its neck, allowing her to grab onto the ridge of his skull and bring down her other fist, drilling blue flame straight into his head, keeping in mind the eighth skill of 'achieving her technique successfully'. The four hits: kicking, punching, wrestling and grappling, this was the physical nature of her technique, but it was what was behind them that was important. Running down the iguana-rhino's spine and leaping off before the beast collapsed, Azula continued running towards the tunnel entrance the beast was covering.

This was the ninth step, the 'continuous fist', a constant attack in only one continuous movement bringing down her opponent. Perfect.

Azula saw the light at the end of the tunnel, and didn't need much prompting for the twelfth method to come to mind, to be 'as fast as the wind blows'. She ran up the diagonal tunnel, and as soon as the first barefoot steps were made the tunnel seemed to come alive. Walls of flame to burst through, bursts of flame to redirect, plumes of flame to protect herself against, some at the same time, all interacting with each other. And she didn't one lose her step. At the end of the tunnel the cool air hit just as much like a wall as the heat did, but she continued to simply burst through.

The tenth step, the 'pattern method', and she'd barely even noticed it had passed. Perfect.

Emerging into the clear air, the patter of Azula's feet didn't slow down as she approached the end of the Songsham Outcrop. Her bare arms, previously pointed behind her, were brought in front one at a time in a circular motion. Two fingers on her left hand stuck together and crackled with energy as they wheeled around, as did two fingers on her right hand as she brought them around her body as well. Her eyes focused forward as the edge of the outcrop cleared away to reveal the tip of Dengfeng Peak. Her fingers joined just before she stopped herself, astride the very edge of the outcrop, and two fingers thrust out to fire across the mountainous gap towards the peak.

The top of the thin peak of rock was hidden in the plume of dust that burst out into the clear sky. A ring of explosions burst forth around the tip, and a long stillness followed as the dust evaporated, before the tip slowly began to slide to one and eventually fall off of the peak, leaving a dust cloud rising into the sky. With the obstruction cleared, the sun shone onto the Outcrop, marking the end of the challenge of the Beishaolin caves…for the rest of eternity.

There wasn't any step of Firebending instruction involved with that. She just wanted to do it.

"You have succeeded in your challenge, Your Highness, though a few have succeeded before you," Loh, having appeared behind Azula, commented dryly, "still, you are unique in ensuring no one will be able to succeed _again_."

"You have exceeded expectations, Princess Azula," Lih spoke understatedly, "you have performed more than adequately."

Although it did sound like faint praise, Azula didn't mind a bit. What was 'adequate' for Lih and Loh translated into 'physically impossible' for almost everyone else. What the two of them had basically said was that the Fire Princess had achieved absolute perfection in Firebending. Azula remained holding her fingers out towards the sun, the source of her power, acutely aware of the sweat clinging her skirt and undershirt to her body, and the heavy breath being forced through her lungs, and felt disappointed. It still wasn't enough.

Azula's eyes drifted down to see a lone, panting, black-clad figure making his way up the side of Beishaolin Ridge, and relaxed her posture. She wandered down the outcrop towards the bundle of clothes, towels, and a pan of water that the nuns had brought her, and picked up a towel, draping it around her bare shoulders. She ordered the nuns, "return to my Summer Retreat and record this morning for posterity. I'll rejoin you later."

"Yes, Your Highness," the nuns bowed in unison and walked away from the outcrop, having nothing more to advise her with. The Summer Retreat was a decent hour's hike away from Beishaolin Ridge, both located in a range of mountains and volcanoes that Fire Nation higher-ups tended to inhabit during the summer months to get away from the intoxicating fumes of the cities, a short distance away from Nagaoka, in the south of the largest island in the Fire Nation island chain.

Despite what she'd implied to her brother the day before, spying on him was not Azula's only reason for coming to the Nagao Prefecture. It wasn't even the primary reason. She had been planning to indulge in this test of her abilities for some months now, since it could only really be done in the summer. But she still had good motives for wishing to indulge Zuko's paranoia. And there was a larger purpose involved in coming here that the approaching figure would hopefully assist her with.

Azula dipped both her hands in the water and splashed her face, cleaning her sweat off with a towel. Upon hearing the panting and heaving approaching behind her, with her face still enmeshed in towel, she leaned down to pick up another towel and held it out towards her visitor.

"Thank you…your most gracious majesty…" Long Feng wheezed, taking the towel gingerly from Azula's sacred fingers and padding his head with it.

"It's not for your benefit," Azula put the Dai Li liaison in his place with her back still turned to him, "I just don't particularly fancy having to look into an old man's pasty, sweaty, greasy face." Azula draped the towel back around her shoulders and turned towards Long Feng, hands held behind her back, "report?"

"Can't I…?" Long Feng, pausing in the process of dabbing his forehead dry, shut himself up upon realising the obvious answer to his question…no, he _couldn't _catch his breath first. Gripping the scroll he was holding tightly and gulping harshly, he began, "we've received word that Colonel Yuung has been fully re-educated and…as we speak…is assisting General Gin Hong's Twelfth Army in eliminating the last fragments of the Yalujiang insurgency. Your Majesty's idea about using re-educated insurgents to infiltrate rebel organisations has succeeded beyond our wildest dreams. I have a full account of Yuung's re-education process here."

Azula dried her hands on her towel and gestured to the Grand Secretary to hand over the scroll. She broke off the official seal of the Earth King…which Azula technically was anyway…and began reading the extensive and detailed calligraphy contained within, asking distractedly, "anything else to report?"

"The railroad construction is back on schedule, the southern nobles have accepted the new tax code and the Earth Navy has pushed a Water Tribe fleet out of Chameleon Bay," Long Feng truncated, "we're still having some problems with extending our authority into the southern periphery and our islands off the east coast, but I daresay this is the most influence central government has had in the Earth Kingdom since…well…ever, actually."

"We can't sit on our laurels yet…" Azula studied the report, "what happened to the Water Tribe fleet?"

"They retreated without a fight, Your Majesty. According to the latest sightings they're heading to the Northern Water Tribe," Long Feng continued, "on that front, the Earth Navy is busy rebuilding its capacity on the northern shore. Although it has to be said that having a naval capacity _at all _is still something of a novelty, so it's anyone's guess how it would fare in open battle…"

"Let's not delude ourselves…the entire concept of an 'Earth Navy' is a contradiction in terms," Azula dismissed without once meeting Long Feng in the eye, "concentrate on coastal defence. The Water Tribe is useful as an enemy to keep the Earth Kingdom mobilised, but actual _engagement _should be left to whatever insane idea War Minister Qin concocts to make up for all the ships we lost last winter."

"I will relate your commands immediately, Your Majesty," Long Feng affirmed, raising an eyebrow at Azula's deep interest in Yuung's re-education report. Unable to keep his silence any longer, Long Feng queried "so…why is Colonel Yuung's re-education so important? It's a very common process for the rehabilitation of troublemakers and the pacification of anti-government organisations."

"Keeping a land of shiny, happy people shiny and happy?" Azula remarked contemptuously, "there's no secret to breaking someone's will. I broke yours. What you seem to have stumbled upon is a way to reconstruct someone's will from scratch. I think I can find a better use for this thing. Have you kept some Fire Nation prisoners of war detained, like I instructed?"

"Yes…the most potentially troublesome and…I believe the term you used was 'physiologically interesting'?" Long Feng peeked around to check if it was really alright to say this stuff out loud, "we've announced that everyone's been released, and the records of those who haven't have been destroyed. But what do you want to do with these prisoners?"

Azula smiled that familiar smile of hers, pausing ominously before delving into the most sensitive part of the conversation by far, "have you ever heard of Pingfang Bay?"

"The only thing we've ever heard of Pingfang Bay is that no one's ever heard of Pingfang Bay," Long Feng answered without hesitation, "it's practically become a cliché amongst the Dai Li. This mysterious null-space that dropped off the map about two years ago. We've made many attempts to try to find out more, but even those who should know about Pingfang Bay say they don't…accompanied by nervous twitching, loud screaming during the night and other such delights."

"Good…the old coot still knows how to do a job," Azula commented dryly, putting the scroll to one side for a moment and addressing Long Feng more fully, "I have a little…_project _going on. It's something I've been working on for the last two years ever since a certain obstacle got out of my skin. Now I can't get rid of him, and instead of spending my free time trying to squash him like I've been doing the last three months, I think I might as well try to accelerate my little _hobby _some more."

"By this…_hobby_…Your Majesty, I don't suppose you mean some kind of Base 77?" Long Feng asked.

"…'Base 77'…?" Azula rolled the words around her tongue, "…'Base 77'…keep that word in mind! It sounds pleasingly, unpretentiously sinister."

"So you wish me to transport the prisoners of war there?" Long Feng returned to the point.

"Eventually, but first…" Azula picked the scroll back up and held it up indicatively, "I want to see how this works _first hand_. It may be useful to my project in areas I haven't thought of before."

"Do you have a particular target in mind?" Long Feng asked.

"It might not come to that, but there's definitely someone," Azula balanced the scroll thoughtfully, "for now, gather a group of Dai Li at my Summer Retreat and see if you can set up an apparatus there. Make sure that it's easy to transport. I'll be heading into Nagaoka shortly."

"At once, Your Majesty," Long Feng turned to leave, only for another thought to cross his mind, "um…if I may ask…how long are you going to keep your Royal Procession standing at attention in the hot sun while you're out here?"

"They can fall out anytime they want, all they need to do is ask," Azula turned back to the water pan and splashed her face some more. Long Feng grasped the sub-text: they can also be thrown into a volcano anytime they want…all they need to do is _ask_.

The Grand Secretary made his motions to leave, actively planning to get warmer clothing in light of the blasting sun beating down on the Beishaolin Ridge. As the question of clothing flashed through his mind, Long Feng momentarily pondered how the Fire Princess and leader of the Earth Kingdom could still look authoritative and terrifying even when dressed only in loose, revealing undergarments. Or maybe it was _because _of the loose, revealing undergarments. It was all very interesting…psychologically speaking.

* * *

From the windows opening their shutters, through the white steam snaking out from the kitchen pipes, through the rather irritating 'good morning band' Xuan had organised, through the number of footsteps crowding the decks and the number of slamming doors ringing down the halls, to the burst of energy imbued in the mighty pillar of smoke splitting the sky…the FLS _Gang Shen _was awakening from its light slumber.

Captain Mayu stepped towards the front of the bridge, yawning as she scratched her back with one hand and held a cup of energising tea in the other. Looking weary, but alert, she gazed down at the increasing number of sightseers venturing out onto the deck, sipping quietly. She asked, "status report, Lieutenant Yin?"

"We're speeding at 25 knots towards Naha Island, no significant problems arose overnight…we should arrive sometime late in the evening, ma'am," the pasty-faced…yet competent…youthful Second Officer reported to the Captain from his position near the telescope, "the engine room's been complaining, though."

"Wan _always _complains…he doesn't know what tacit acceptance _is_," Mayu took another sip, taking one last look before walking back towards the door, "good. Maintain current course and speed and look out for trouble. I'll be in my Office…"

"Aye, ma'am," Yin looked back through the telescope at the hazy sea-misted horizon. Mayu opened the door only to find an extremely irate Xuan advancing through it from the other side. She retreated, trying not to spill her tea in surprise.

"What is the meaning of this!?" Xuan was livid, jabbing at a piece of parchment and shouting straight into Mayu's face, "here I was, looking at the features of the Territorial coast disappear when I wake up this morning, and thinking 'noooo, I must've made a mistake'! But here it is, in clear black calligraphic ink! You increased speed without my say-so! _We're going too fast!_"

"Firstly, sir, I don't need your _permission_," Mayu responded as neutrally as someone having phlegm thrown in her face could, "and secondly I considered it prudent that we don't stay in the Mo Ce Sea longer than is strictly necessary. I think your customers would appreciate getting to their destination early…"

"Appreciate? _Appreciate!? _I've offered a complementary breakfast for all the passengers as they journey into dock! What am I supposed to say to them now you're kicking them off the boat in the middle of the night!?" Xuan gestured in exasperation, "the Hong Yu Guo Service is not about getting to the destination in the fastest time possible! It's the _journey _that matters to people! The service, the comfort, the feel of the open sea…it's an _experience_!"

"An experience that happens to have extra price tags attached, I've noticed…" Mayu crossed her arms, "there is a war on, in case you've forgotten, sir. As an officer in the service of the Fire Lord it is my responsibility to see that the principles of War Economy are strictly applied. The way things are going, these people will only have half their monthly rations left by the time they reach dock. And in any case, these attackers haven't been caught yet, so…"

"I'm not interested in whatever principles you ascribe to, Captain!" Xuan pointed angrily, "a national company this may be, but it's still a _company _and our obligation to our customers trumps whatever other considerations you can concoct in that literal mind of yours! The war is practically over! That excuse to keep these people enjoying themselves doesn't _count _anymore! And we've _already discussed _the attacks, if I remember! I am a higher authority than you, my dear, so I'm not asking you, I'm _telling _you…_slow this ship down now!_"

Xuan fumed for a few still seconds before storming back out of the bridge, leaving an air of heated anger in his wake. With everyone a little dumb-struck at the display, Yin had to wait until the silence acquired a gravitational pull before asking, "ma'am? Do we…have to pay attention to him?"

May blinked, then shrugged, "he's the boss." The Captain took one last swig of the tea and set the empty cup to one side, turning to Yin to order "calculate the velocity required to reach Naha Island tomorrow morning, and reduce speed to compensate."

* * *

"This way…" Toph pointed into empty space towards the gradually-approaching object she could feel in the corner of her senses, nearly at the point where she didn't have to stand completely still to be able to tell where it was…although there were more nuanced problems to overcome.

"No, Ming Zhi…that's a _wall_…" Sokka pointed out, as Toph had raised a finger towards a corridor that was fairly obviously a dead end, down in the constantly-lit depths of the ship at the foot of a near-vertical staircase that hadn't exactly been easy to overcome. Sokka was starting to fear that he was turning blind as well with all these flickering dim lights, and felt rather testy, "you can't walk through walls no matter how awesome you think you are."

"Then make yourself useful and stop being a jerk," Toph pouted menacingly. Momo blinked heavily and rubbed his eyes repeatedly, trying to peer through the dull red lighting and make his retinas stop hurting. Looking down the corridor facing the staircase, Momo saw two figures approach before the others did, and recognised the sight of one of them. Excitedly, the winged lemur began to jump up and down on Toph's shoulder, springing himself for flight until Toph firmly clamped the creature down with her free hand.

"Momo, what are you so excited about?" Toph attempted to calm the enthusiastic little critter down. Upon hearing two sets of footsteps on the metal, however, she got a sinking feeling about who it was Momo had gotten excited _about_, "…it's not _him_, is it?"

"Oh hey!" Nandi called out, attracting Sokka's attention, "look, mama, it's the friend I made yesterday!"

"Nandi…no…you are not making any more friends on this voyage until you learn to be more responsible," the slender, put-upon mother chastised her son, then looked up and smiled nervously at the two other people in the corridor, "oh, I'm sorry! I'm sure your sister is a perfectly nice person. It's just my son here doesn't know how to take care of himself. He came in dripping wet from wave wash last night, saying his friends were up to the same thing."

"Oh, no offence taken! Ming Zhi gets people killed all the time!" Sokka smiled as he wrapped an arm around Toph's shoulders.

"No I don't…" Toph said testily, once again blushing from the uncomfortably close contact. She shunted Sokka's hand off and addressed the both of them, "sorry to keep you both, but we'll be going now…"

"Wait! How's Momo doing? That's his name, right?" Nandi drew closer, despite his mother holding one of his hands, peering at Momo. The winged lemur grew excited at his presence, and Nandi smiled, "awww…did he miss me?"

"No, he reacts that way to everyone…" Toph excused Momo's behaviour, reaching behind herself to tug his tail painfully, "he's very emotionally confused."

"Nah, I bet he's just friendly…" Nandi reached out his free hand, and the pained Momo relaxed and leaned forward to be petted. But when Nandi's head reached the lemur's head, Momo's purring acquiescence disappeared and the creature found himself paralysed with shock. His fur electrified, Momo scrambled away from Nandi's hand and hid behind Toph's head, peering out in terror at Nandi. Toph seemed surprised, but eminently pleased at this reaction.

"Looks like Momo's more choosy in his pals than I thought he was," Toph said smugly. Nandi looked confused, but that confusion seemed to dissipate with a soft giggle. It was an odd sort of giggle, starting in his gut before emerging on his face, but only Sokka was in a position to observe this, and it didn't pique his interest more than a little.

"Sorry, I think my hands are all clammy from last night," Nandi excused, shrugging, "maybe I can go get him something to eat?"

"You're going nowhere, young man, except where I can see you," Nandi's mother dragged Nandi to one side and away from the rest, turning back briefly to say politely, "it was nice meeting you!"

"Uh…you too…" Sokka waved lightly at the mother and sun heading down the corridor opposite the dead end. Once out of ear-shot, Sokka wondered aloud, "that mother needs to pay attention to what her son eats. He looked _reeeaaally _pale…"

"Good, saves me the trouble of making his life a misery if he falls ill," Toph spoke vindictively. She tugged on Sokka's hand, "c'mon, we need to find the engine."

"You have a real problem with empathy, you know that?" Sokka began leading Toph down the corridor opposite the staircase.

"Empathy is overrated…" Toph began, as Momo's hiding behind her head began to bug her, and she began twisting her shoulders around, "Momo…will you stop shivering? He's gone…"

She was interrupted by hearing a giggle emanate from down the corridor to the right of her, where Nandi had disappeared into. It was a strange half-laugh, sounding at once fake and honest. Distracted, Toph paused to listen down the corridor, only for Sokka to tug harder and pull her bodily forwards with a yelp.

* * *

"I don't know what to do with you sometimes, Nandi…" Nandi's mother, Kyo, was a good soul, but still more concerned with her son's well-being than was strictly healthy for her, "you're always pleasant and kind and you do what you're told, and yet you keep doing stupid things like this. I'm actually starting to think sending you to the Youth League might be a good idea, Agni help me."

"I'll make everything fine, mother," Nandi said distantly, trailing his mother with one hand held while she stomped ahead down the corridors towards whatever corrective punishment she had in mind.

"Oh you'll make everything fine alright," Kyo muttered towards the end of the corridor, "the war with the Earth Kingdom ends, your father finally gets some leave and you act like this. It's unacceptable, Nandi. If you want to serve the Fire Lord correctly and make your mother happy, you have to start being _sensible_. And…when did you start calling me 'mother'…?"

Kyo turned to face Nandi only for empty space to be where his smiling, unkempt face should have been. She looked down at her hand to find she had in fact been dragging thin air. Confusion turned to fear, and fear turned to immense frustration as Nandi's mother looked over at the nearest side-corridor and stomped in that general direction, calling out "Nandi! _Nandi!_ Don't you run away from me, young man! Come out here _this instant _or so help me I'll get Sozin's Comet to come back just to flambé you!"

Kyo disappeared into the side-corridor in her bid to track down Nandi. In the empty corridor left behind was little except the flickering red light and the hum of the engines, but gradually, over some seconds, it was joined by something else. A small drop of water fell onto the smooth, featureless metal floor, followed by another, followed by another, followed by two in quick succession, pinging on the hard surface. The numbers increased, and clear puddles began to form from the droplets falling from the ceiling, the only movement in the long corridor. And then came another sound apart from the pitter-patter of droplets, a tiny, strangled giggle, rising and falling in intensity, sounding almost like weeping but for the wide, empty smile across Nandi's face.

**To Be Continued…**

**_Avatar: The Last Airbender _**Concept and Characters © Nickelodeon 2005-06

* * *

**Author's Note: **I really did not intend for this chapter to take so long to write. I mean...I haven't even been particularly _busy_. It just seems to be this internet going back to its bad old habits of sucking my free time dry.

And yes, I also didn't intend for this Azula section to be long. I'd only really thought of a short training introduction to Long Feng coming in and now it's turned into this _hewge _thing where I look up the 10 steps and 24 elements of Northern Shaolin and make an extended sequence of Azula kicking butt out of it. I should shrink it to save space, but now I like it too much. I mean, it's not like my stories tend to have much fighting in them except small bits squeezed in, so I'm just getting used to actually writing a martial arts epic that has _martial arts _in it.

I'm also sensing a pattern that my Fire Nation sections seem to be more popular than my Team Avatar sections...which this part does _nothing _to rectify, but hopefully the 'God of Steel' of the title might actually assert itself a bit more soon.


	4. The Metal Age

As they grew closer to the engine room, the structure of the very ship seemed to change with their proximity. In contrast to the spotless features behind and above, the corridors close to the engines…far from the sections passengers usually traverse…were progressively becoming covered in greater amounts of grease and rust, and losing what decorations they had. The rumbling grew louder, and the walls shook to the touch from the mighty forces within.

The light was becoming dimmer, but for Toph the way was actually becoming clearer. The combined vibrations emitted from the hulking behemoth they were approaching was making the clatter of hinges and shifting of bulkheads audible even when she was walking. The wire-frame of the ship had become clearer in her mind, and she could make a reasoned guess about what the decks above and below were shaped like. Then as she stepped over a particularly rusty section of hallway, she stopped to gasp.

Sokka paused as well to look at the blind Earthbender halt in surprise, grin hungrily in pleasure with her fists clenched close to her chest, and finally and most adorably squealing in delight with her bare feet stamping the ground to make foot-shaped indentations in the floor. Momo, startled from his terror-induced hiding, looked down from Toph's shoulder and scrambled down her body to investigate what it was she was stamping. She trembled excitedly "I can feel it!"

"I gathered, yeah…" Sokka observed, scratching his cheek, "so is this what you were searching for?"

"Nah, this is just a really thin coating," Toph poked her toes in the rust and drew little lines and circles in the orange metallic residue, "still feels good…oh _man_ does it feel good…but the really big prize is behind that door."

As Momo tried to draw patterns in the rust himseld, purring mournfully from failure, Toph pointed forward to a door just beyond an intersection in the corridors. The sounds coming from it were alarmingly loud given the size of the walls in this place, and the calligraphic plate bolted to the door left little doubt as to what it was: 'Engine Room: No Unauthorised Persons Allowed'. Sokka, despite his persistent scepticism, was as interested in finding out what powered this thing as Toph was, though for rather more empirically-minded reasons. With his mindset on mechanics, Sokka abruptly realised something and asked, "wait…you know there's a door there?"

"The thing's rattling so much I could probably hear it on deck," Toph pointed our. Her smile very much etched on her face, she paced forward towards the door. Momo scrabbled forward back onto her shoulder in a bid not to be left behind, as Toph felt a tinge of satisfaction at correctly guessing where the handle was.

"Wait…Toph!" Sokka ran forward and appealed, "shouldn't we…sneak around the back or something?"

"What? Scared of facing the future?" Toph asked rhetorically with a mischievous shine in her sightless eye, and pushed down on the handle.

Their senses were flooded with heat and noise as soon as they stepped into the Engine Room. The sound of steam and furnace, clanks and turbines, shouting and grunting, were almost deafening. The sound of the engine beyond _was _deafening. Vapour, grease and sweat wafted through the red air of the metal room, with various people of hardy musculature running, shoving, throwing things and operating the vast devices with a supreme clarity and purpose. No effort was wasted, no movement extraneous or pointless. The activities of the engineers were as specialised and purposeful as the machines themselves. Toph and Sokka entered unnoticed, so focused was everyone on their jobs. Momo shrank from the activity, entering a world alien to his senses.

There didn't seem to be a clear distinction where the engine ended and the rest of the ship began. To the left and right of them, huge furnaces lay open with coal being constantly shovelled into them ceaselessly. Above the furnaces were catwalks along which a vast myriad of instruments, valves and tubes weaved themselves into a tapestry of iron and steel. Around the room, pipes snaked from the floor, ceiling and walls, converging in the colossal machine that sat before them. A massive sphere with various portholes of various sizes randomly dispersed around it, instruments poking up all over its surface, and pipes ranging from the smallest of copper wiring to enormous chutes converged into it. Parts moved and swivelled in separate, distinct patterns, never staying still, alive. It hissed and whirred, shunted and groaned, roared and shuddered with endless fury. It dominated the centre of the room, like an Emperor on its throne, ruling the ship with an iron fist and demanding the devotion of all its subjects. The blind Earthbending master and the Water Tribe warrior stepped towards the machine and gawped.

The engine seemed to take offence at some minor infraction, and began spouting steam from one of its joints. A bearded man, small and slim but strongly built, by far the oldest man in the room, turned from his repair job on the catwalk and yelled in an impressively loud voice, "redistribute the pressure! The tertiary upper valve's gonna blow!"

The man, wearing sandals, a sleeveless red shirt and short trousers, wielded his spanner like a weapon as he ran to a ladder on the far end of the catwalk and slid down to the floor, skirting across to a ladder at the foot of the engine and climbing up to the steaming valve. The word came back from another of the engineers, "it's no good! The lower valves'll get jammed! We'll have ta increase th' coolant flow!"

"Do it!" the bearded man ordered as he pulled down on the spanner, twisting the screw tighter. The steam flow slowed but didn't stop entirely, no matter how hard he pushed. His muscles strained, and he cursed, "don't you do this to me you _damned good-for-nothing LOWER DEITY_!"

The man, losing his temper, hit the valve with all the power he could muster. Miraculously, the steam flow stopped, but as he relaxed in relief a loud bang rung out and beneath him, halfway down the side of the ladder, a porthole had blown out, with a small fire establishing itself inside the pipes and cogs. There was a loud ring from the other side of the Engine Room as the man clutched his head in frustration and let out a gurgled scream at the unfairness of it all.

From the left catwalk a slight young girl clambered over the railings and leapt onto the top of the engine, clambering towards a valve sticking out the left side and jumping down onto a pipe to twist it with all her might. The fire billowing out the porthole died down, and the engine seemed to ease its gargantuan effort a little. Far from seeming congratulatory, however, the old man instead clambered quickly up the ladder and yelled across at the young girl, "what are you doing!? We can't get that pressure back! We're gonna haveta crawl along at 15 knots fer the rest of the trip!"

"Word from upon high," the girl leapt up to another pipe to run around the circumference of the engine and jump down onto the nearest chute to the old man, using an inter-connecting pipe to hang down from, "we're gonna haveta crawl along at 15 knots fer the rest of the trip."

"Oh…" the old man replied sheepishly, blinking in embarrassment, "good thinking. Alright everyone, stop slacking! We just got a reprieve here an' we damn well gotta use it! I want her tamed and whipped into shape by noon or ya better get ready ta swim, ya hear me!?"

His orders bellowed, everyone set to work on repairs, dousing some flames and stoking others, shouting and shovelling and twisting and throwing things just as before, but a little more relaxed, as one more crisis was over with for now. The old man slung the massive spanner into a holster slung around his back and dropped to the ground, slapping his hands together to get the grime off, looking a little smugly like someone smacking his child for being naughty. He walked forward a few steps back towards the catwalk ladder before both his footsteps and hand-smacking slowed to a halt, having noticed the two new additions to his chamber. He eyed them both with contempt, asking curtly "who let you in here?"

Sokka was lost in the aura of power of the engine and its intricate workings, so upon being snapped back into focus by the chief engineer's attention, he found himself caught looking like an army had snuck up on him and yelled 'boo'. Startled, he spoke quickly, "ah! …sorry, it's just…I mean…I just wanted to see this place! It's incredible!"

"You jus' wanted ta see this place…" the wily engineer growled, "well, ye saw it! So get lost."

"The metal here…" Toph disregarded the engineer's request and wandered forward, hand reaching out towards the face of the engine. As fingers touched, one by one, so the smile on Toph's face grew bigger and bigger. Every turning cog, every twisting gear, every pulsing turbine, was rendered in complete clarity inside the blind girl's mind. The earth was still strong in the metal, the material ground into its fabric, spreading vibrations around and through. It was addictive, and she felt herself drunk on sensuality after such a long famine of unfeeling. She pressed her hand firmly, and sensually absorbed the huge metallic beast before her. Toph giggled in satisfaction, "…it's impure…"

The engineer looked at the girl in puzzlement, wondering exactly what was up with these passengers, "'course it's impure. If she were made out of pure metal she'd break inta chunks after a week. That stuff they make th' decks out of is pretty good fer showing off, but it's useless fer anything practical. It's too brittle an' can't take the elements…if that ain't a pun. That's why th' keel's made outta th' same stuff Our Lady here's made outta." The engineer patted the surface of the engine, "put pure metal inta th' drink an' you wouldn't have a ship _left_ after a month."

"I see…" Sokka scratched his chin, "the pure metal attracts rust more easily than impure metal, since pure metal isn't hardened enough against erosion. So impure metal's sturdier…" Sokka looked around, "that means…wait…how does the outer hull stay clean of rust?"

"'With great difficulty'. Ye should see Shui after she's been scrubbing orange muck off th' ship fer three days straight," the chief engineer smiled, eminently taken by the warrior's scientific mind. A frown quickly follows as he realises he _had _been showing these people the door, "…_why are you still here!?_"

"Wan!" the young girl from earlier leapt down from above and landed with bent knees on the plated floor. Standing straight upright, the brown-haired teenage monkey-girl berated Wan the engineer, "stop scaring people off! If they're interested, they're interested. No reason we can't be civil…an' what about me and scrubbing orange muck off fer three days straight? _That's not funny!_"

"Shui's got a big heart, but no sense 'a humour…" Wan spoke sideways to Sokka, putting hands on hips to address Shui, "kid…there's a system ta these things. _We're _the crew, an' _they're _the passengers. Th' crew don't use th' foot massages and cocktail parlour, an' th' passengers don't go poking around th' machinery an' getting _their pets clogged in the gearbox!_"

The last exclamation was addressed at Toph, as Momo was mimicking her hand movements and padding the metal surface of the machine. Toph turned towards Wan and took offence, "the lemur stays with me, buddy."

"Hey, I'm the one who ends up cleaning th' gunk afterwards," Shui pointed out to Toph, turning back to Wan to appeal, "but c'mon, Wan, you know th' Fire Navy's always lookin' fer good engineers! We gotta _advertise _a little more!"

"'Advertise'…we open up ta every half-wit that comes along, an' I get stuck with th' last of th' scraps so's you can go traipsing 'round the world, is that it?" Wan dismissed Shui's appeal and wandered up to the engine, unsheathing his spanner and shunting Toph aside with one hand to concentrate on repairing the inside of the blown-out porthole. Despite his distractedness, he continued with the conversation, "face facts, kid. Far as these passengers know anythin' 'bout anythin', this ship runs on voodoo. Try ta tell 'em clear as ye can, they won't get nothin' 'cept she's a '_maaagical_' engine that makes '_maaagical_' thrust."

Wan made wiggly-quotation-mark motions with his fingers around the word '_maaagical_' in-between twists of his spanner, and seemed to ignore them all. Sokka, irritated at the engineer's arrogance, tried to stand up for himself, "it's powered by steam, isn't it? You burn the coal to stoke up a furnace and boil water, so the steam that rises goes through the pipes and passes through sets of turbines. Connect them to gears and cogs and you can turn the propellers, regulate air flows, power all the things Xuan uses up top and other things as well."

"Congratulations, ye passed basic engine theory," Wan quipped sarcastically, never breaking his screw-twisting stride, "easy ta talk smart 'bout 'regulatin' air flows', but I'd like ta see ya try twisting her pipes with yer bare hands while hot vapour's burnin' ye skin off. _That's _'regulatin' air flows', sonny."

"Hey! I don't know what kinda bumpkin you take me for, you big creep, but I've seen machines bigger than this entire boat!" Sokka flailed, "just 'cuz you know how to use a spanner don't make you a god!"

Sokka struck a nerve. Wan stopped twisting his spanner and looked up to glare at the machine in front of him, muttering menacingly "you have no idea how right you are…"

As he spoke the words, something seemed to rumble forth from inside the metal sphere more than it was already rumbling. Startled, Wan set to work twisting his screw more rapidly before, drenched even more in sweat than he was before, "c'monnnn…oh, Blessed One, don'tcha _dare _to this to me…rrrRRAGH!" Something popped from above Wan, and though the rumbling stopped a small joint burst open and emitted a thin plume of vapour. Wan hit the engine in frustration and glared at it evilly, "'and lo, she said, I bring down upon thee mine displeasure…_again_…'. C'mon people! Clamps! _Clamps!_"

Wan holstered his spanner once again and clapped repeatedly to get the other engineers moving. By 'clamps' he meant sets of metal rings that could be wrapped around the burst pipe and tightened to keep the steam from escaping, which was exactly what two people handed him. Sokka, having lost the chief engineer's attention, sidled over to Toph and whispered urgently, "I think we better go."

"What!?" Toph reacted angrily, "we can't go now! We just found metal that…" Toph looked around, clamping down a distressed Momo to keep the creature quiet, and leaning in closer, "…metal that I can _bend_. I just know that if I can get some of this stuff, I can do the same thing I did last time. I'll find out how to _use _this stuff!"

"Look, maybe we can sneak in when that crazy guy is asleep or something…" Sokka grabbed Toph's arm and pulled her away from the foot of the engine, "but right now I _reeeaaally _don't wanna be in the same room as this weirdo."

"Wait! Don't go!" Shui ran quickly in front of the two of them, holding her arms out to stall them, "give it chance, please? We jus' got off to a rocky start, that's all…"

"We never had a _start _to…start with…" Sokka walked past and looked back condescendingly at Wan, who was climbing up the ladder with the clamps, "your boss put paid to that." Sokka looked ahead and for the first time saw a peculiar alcove embedded into the wall next to the door. A large ceramic bowl and several incense sticks were tucked into it, serving no conceivably useful purpose in the engine room. His mind was distracted only momentarily from the task of skidaddling as soon as possible.

"I'm sorry for his manners. He's a good guy, really, it's jus'…" Shui leant her head in-between Sokka and Toph and held both their shoulders with her arms, looking back in concern, "he's…got a troubled relationship between him and his god…"

"His…god?" Toph voiced aloud. All three of the visitors were utterly confused.

"Well…y'know th' name of th' ship, the _Gang Shen_?" Shui explained.

Sokka looked blank, while Toph emitted an aura of blankness. They didn't get it.

"…'The God of Steel'?" Shui elaborated.

They got it, after a few seconds. They both breathed in and tipped their heads back as the flash of recognition buzzed through their brains. Sokka realised, "…ooooooooh! …uh…is that normal?"

"You from the Territories, aren'tcha?" Shui asked, "what's yer name?"

"Gameshin…" Sokka nodded, "how did you know?"

"I dunno, somethin' 'boutcha jus' screams 'peasant-boy'. Ain't many o'those left in th' Fire Nation," Shui peered around at Wan, "I dunno how it works where you come from, but people in the Fire Nation think that everything's alive, no matter what. That there're gods all 'round us. Rivers are gods, trees are gods, mountains are gods…I grew up givin' offerings to a god of th' vine crawlin' up the end of the alleyway my folks squatted in."

"Annnd…this guy thinks the _engine _is a god?" Sokka spoke sceptically.

"Oh, she's a god alright," Shui looked up at the colossus, "she was givin' Wan some trouble all th' way back when, so he thought if he treated her right she'd return th' favour."

"…did it work?" Toph asked in all honesty.

"Heck no. They been locked in battle ever since," Shui seemed heavily amused by it all, "she's got a mind of her own, and no one but _no one _tells her what ta do."

While Sokka continued staring in disbelief at _engineers _of all people being so superstitious, Toph seemed strangely taken with this 'God of Steel'. She sounded like Toph's kind of girl. Smile spread up to her cheek bones, Toph advanced her question, "hey…d'you think I can get some of the metal she's made out of? I'm really interested in how she's built."

"Mm…don't see why not," Shui shrugged, leading the two infiltrators and one infiltrating flying creature towards the door of the engine room, "I'll show ya where you can find it. It ain't far from here…"

"Hey!" Wan bellowed from halfway up the engine, forcing everyone to swivel around in alarm, "where d'ya think ye're going!?"

"I…they wanted ta see th' stuff Our Lady's made outta," Shui stepped forward and pointed a thumb towards Sokka and Toph, "I was jus' gonna show 'em th' Shaft Room where th' spare parts 'n scrap are kept…"

"…you ain't going nowhere, missy…" Wan clambered down the ladder and approached the group, "you stay here an' keep up th' repairs. _I'll _show these amateurs to th' Shaft Room."

"You will?" Sokka felt surprised at this sudden burst of generosity, as well as disappointed that he got stuck with the angry old man instead of the feisty young woman, "…great."

"What!?" Shui retorted angrily, "why can't I show 'em!? You don't even want 'em here!"

"Exactly," Wan explained, "I can't tell ya not to show 'em 'round, 'cuz I _know _you'll jus' ignore me, an' I can't _let _ya show 'em 'round 'cuz you can't judge character to save yer life! Better they go where I can keep my eyeballs on 'em."

"So it's not 'bout gettin' away from _her_, then?" Shui remarked cheekily.

"_Ssshhhhh!_" Wan drew closer to Shui and pressed a bony finger to his lips, genuinely terrified, "she might _hear _you…"

"Okay, I got it, I'll get th' tertiary pressure valves back inta shape," Shui nodded disappointedly, "you _owe _me, mister."

"I owe you _nuthin'_, kid. Not kickin' these idiots out is payment returned, ya hear me?" Wan chastised, walking past the two visitors without once acknowledging them, "c'mon then, I'll show ya th' works. Throw something inta th' shrine an' let's get moving!"

Wan waved a hand at the alcove Sokka saw earlier, and the warrior realised at last what it was, "ooh! …wait, ya mean I gotta _pay _for being in here?"

Wan stopped and turned around, arms crossed and eyes cross, "if ye wanna stop me reportin' ya fer unauthorised entry, then yeah. No one disrespects the God of Steel an' gets away with it."

Sokka was at his wit's end with all this superstitious nonsense, but his glances for appeal from anyone else fell on disinterested faces. Everyone else was either busy with their work or in-between tasks, even Shui, who had wordlessly picked up where Wan had left off with the repairs. Toph, instead of sympathy, seemed to dig in her heels and demand that Sokka accept the command. A last ditch appeal for Momo fell on dazed and confused ears. The winged lemur was not coping well with all these confined spaces.

Sokka poked through his pockets for something he could give. All he came out with was the 5 Shu copper coin Aang had managed to receive from a Fire Nation patrol 5 days earlier. It was an uncomfortable reminder of the person they had come all this way to help, and the rest of the world that depended upon him recovering from his condition. Helping Toph with her abilities might just help Aang, he knew, even if it wasn't useful straight away. Every help he got was necessary, no matter how small, and if it required flinging good money into a shrine for a god of propeller-turning mechanisms…Sokka sighed and flipped the coin into the bowl inside the shrine, which landed with a sizeable tinkle of copper rebounding against copper. When in the engine, do as the engineers do, Sokka supposed.

Wan smiled and opened the door, expecting the two others to follow. As Sokka grabbed hold of Toph's hand to lead her out, the engineer muttered "not that she ever thanks anyone for givin' her so much cash, though."

Sokka groaned, and Toph actually chortled a little. She didn't believe a word of it either, but the thought of a goddess of metal making her own rules and teaching everyone else whose boss filled her with a kind of satisfaction. Someday soon, _she _was going to be the god of steel, and no one, not even Sokka, could ever doubt that.

A burst of steam and shouts of alarm briefly arrested her attention, and her mind's gaze turned back onto the creature behind her. It loomed large in her senses, rumbling and spitting and groaning, and she couldn't help but feel that the engine was taking offence at her thought processes, at the very idea that the God of Steel could be supplanted. Good, Toph thought, as she turned her back on the metal deity and smiled. It was time she had some competition.

It was unclear who had the last laugh, as the door to the Engine Room slammed shut. The blind Earthbending Master could shape and manipulate the very substance the engine was made out of, but, unnoticed in the overwhelming presence of the machine, Toph had overlooked something more worrying. Into the furnaces, muscled workers shovelled food into the stomach of the God of Steel. The food was the earth itself, Toph's own element, torn from Toph's soil and shipped from Toph's land, disappearing a piece at a time, gobbled up whole and incinerated as a sacrifice to the god in the machine.

* * *

Colonel Mongke hadn't been in the Fire Nation more than 24 hours and he already wanted to leave. The sun-less skies, the oppressive hues of red and grey, the confined, claustrophobic spaces…it might have been home but it wasn't where he lived. He lived somewhere else, where fields blazed and forests charred, where men and women fought and died. He was a soldier. He wasn't meant to be wandering around cobble-stone streets politely asking shopkeepers and merchants whether a kindly old man had passed through this way. His business was war…_this _business was an embarrassment.

Mongke knew the old mantra, back to front, that every citizen of the Fire Nation from factory worker to bartender was a soldier in the war. That every road swept and every screw fixed represented a duty to the Fire Nation. But that still felt like _cheating _somehow. The war had touched this place in terms of materials produced and men away on duty, but it had never really been _touched _by the war. That may have been a source of pride for him, leader of the Rough Post-Rhinos, but only in the abstract sense. It was a place untouched by war, so he had made it his mission in life to go where places _were _touched by war, to aid the Fire Lord not through tightening bolts and checking documents but by physical, martial skill. His mission was to protect this place, not _live_ in it. Living normal, everyday lives was something that happened to other people.

The Firebending Colonel may have sworn to enact the will of the Fire Lord, the divine guiding light of his people, and spread his righteous flame to every corner of the globe, but behind that principled façade he'd long realised it was just an excuse to go out and burn things. Nothing wrong with that, he felt, it was what soldiers were meant to do. He'd been trained in it and specialized in it, unlike the ranks of citizen-soldiers who swelled the ranks every time a generation reached their early twenties. He'd always been a soldier. He just wasn't any good at anything else. Spreading Fire Lord Sozin's vision for a world order under the sun and the children of Agni and safeguarding Fire Nation civilisation against all who would deny them their birthright…stirring words, but they were still words. Mongke held no illusions about that. He'd been a soldier too long to care about such high-minded things. He was a soldier because he was a soldier. Plain and simple.

He really shouldn't have dwelt on these things while Prince Zuko was sniffing the contents of a Herbalist's free samples. It wasn't making Mongke's mood any better. Sometimes he felt like reaching out to his reins and stroking the back of an enormous beast he was sitting on, like they were phantom limbs. It was pathetic.

"Not this one. Too musky," Zuko reported with deadly seriousness, and passed the shop by. Really, really pathetic…

"Maybe I'd like something musky…" Mongke groaned, his brain half-rotten from stultifying boredom. Zuko and the Rough Dismounted were checking the obscure back-alleys of cobble-laned Nagaoka for deliciously aromatic scents. And Mongke was starting to have trouble remembering why after some four hours of walking. On foot. With feet. That moved in a bipedal fashion. He wasn't exhausted by the walking by any means, just thoroughly weirded out. It was Zuko's twelfth rejection of a herbalist's varieties of root and dried grass in a row that was exhausting him. Or was it the fourteenth? "Kachi? How many herbalists have we gone through."

"I don't know…I don't _know_…" Kachi acted like he was suffering an advanced case of shell-shock, and clutched his head in agony, "_make it stop! Can't anyone make it stop!?_"

"Calm down, old man," Ogedei was taking this whole trip surprisingly well, "think of it as a kinda torture they didn't have a lesson on in the Academy. Once we're through this, there's nothing the enemy can ever do to us. It's _educational_."

"Come off it, you're just looking for something to make you smell better," Kachi growled at the pony-tailed show-off.

"It's only shop-browsing, you know," Yeh-Lu reasoned from behind his helmet, "can we stop being so melodramatic? Searching shops for signs of Iroh ain't gonna kill us."

"No…and some _sun _ain't gonna to kill us neither," Ogedei pointed out, "is there any…real…reason why you gotta wear that armour in the Fire Nation? It just stinks of overcompensating…"

"Mind your own business," Yeh-Lu responded curtly. They half-noticed that another herbalist's had appeared next to them and the squad had unthinkingly come to a halt while Zuko sniffed the rows of dried vegetation in a thorough and comprehensive fashion. Kachi chuckled.

"Well, good thing we _are_ going herb-hunting, then," the gruff guan do-man smirked at the armoured grenadier, "with weather like this, 'overcompensating' ain't gonna be the only thing you'll be stinking of."

"_Ladies_…" Mongke called the men to order, "we're professional soldiers on a mission from the Fire Lord to track down and kill a wily and dangerous fugitive, not _teenagers shopping for clothes_. If you gotta gossip, can't you at least gossip about adult, soldierly, _male _things? This bickering's making my head cave in…"

Mongke rubbed his head, tired beyond reckoning. Ogedei, meanwhile, held a hand to his mouth and chuckled, "…says the soprano…"

"_That was an experiment!_" Mongke twisted to point accusingly at the ball-and-chain brawler, "mention that _one more time _and the only thing you'll be squawking will be the backing parrot in 'Pirates of Penshan'…"

"Quiet!" Zuko snapped. Mongke spun round, not entirely used to being on the receiving end of a rebuke, and found himself facing an upright and incredibly serious young boy who brooked no funny business in any way, shape or form. It was an impressive show of authority for a teenager. He commanded, without the slightest trace of irony, "these leaves smell sweet, fruity, but still retain a familiar, woodsy texture to the taste. They _have _to be the kinds of leaves my Uncle showed to that grocer."

"We wouldn't have had to go through all this if you'd just let us interrogate the _grocer_," Mongke growled, "she was the last one to see him!"

"She said he didn't mention where he was going, and I believe her," Zuko countered, eyes fixed on Mongke's face as he placed the bag of herbs back on the rack, "if I think someone _is _hiding something, I'll let you know. Until then, _you do as I say_. Understand?"

"…yes sir…" Mongke responded without enthusiasm, "so what are your commands?"

"You'll follow me into the shop, Colonel," Zuko ordered, "the rest of you stay outside and neutralise any escape routes. He could be hiding right in this neighbourhood for all we know."

"You got that?" Mongke addressed the other soldiers, knowing full well that these were not the sort of people who needed things repeated to them.

"Clear as crystal, sir!" Yeh-Lu spoke for the rest of them, pre-empting the predictable grumbling from Kachi or sarcastic remarks from Ogedei. Mongke saw them in the clear light of day and reflected on the absurdity of having them travel on foot. You could spot them in a crowd a _li _away, the brawler, the bladesman, the grenadier and the archer. They were so conspicuous that the rhinos would only have been the icing on the cake. If Iroh didn't see them coming, then quite frankly he deserved to be caught.

He could see the value in Zuko's tactics, but they just weren't the people for the job. They were soldiers. Nuance would always be a strange and exotic concept to them. Though the Colonel considered…maybe that was a failing in _them_, not Zuko? He brushed away the possibility. If unsuitable personnel choices led to Zuko's execution, that was the Fire Nation royalty's problem, not his. It was another one of those everyday life things. Something that happened to other people.

"Come," Zuko signalled, pulling aside the sliding door of the shop and entering the shop without once looking at Mongke, expecting the Colonel to enter after him unheeded. He duly did. The door slid shut, and the shoulders of the squad outside sagged collectively.

"Man after your own heart, Vachir," Kachi quipped at the haughty Yu-Yan archer, "you and Zuko…you'd have _dan _to talk down to us about."

"Silence, infidel," Vachir spoke condescendingly. The rest of the conversation had been too far beneath him for him to consider contributing.

"_Ha ha ha!_ You hear that!?" Kachi slapped Ogedei on the side heartily, "I've been upgraded to 'infidel'! 'parently 'fiend' ain't enough anymore, so I'm moving up in Vachir's 'league table of wretchedness'!"

"Pfft…I got to 'infidel' before you did…" Ogedei belittled Kachi's achievement.

Yeh-Lu sighed heavily, "he's never called me anything 'cept 'barbarian'."

"I'm afraid you're just not cut out for being a 'fiend', Yeh-Lu," Ogedei put a comforting hand on the armoured grenadier's shoulder, "that's your problem! You're just too _nice_."

"Well let's cover the corners of this place and give armoured-stink-boy a fighting chance to act dirty when Iroh gets flushed out…" Kachi shouldered his guan do and walked a short distance away towards the thin gap between sets of terraced houses, his grin quickly fading, "if he's even _here_…"

The Rough Walkers spread out to their positions, melting into the street, and in moments not a trace of them could be seen.

* * *

The herbalist's turned out to sell things besides herbs. In fact, the shop was filled with all kinds of fascinating knick-knacks. The herbs were there simply to hook customer's noses and drag them inside with their scintillating aromas. The boutique was more of a collection of quaint Fire Nation delights. Scrolls of ancient myths, dragon-shaped ornaments, opera masks, incense sticks and small mechanical devices that played clanky little tunes when someone twisted the key…generally items from a time when it wasn't decreed from upon high that everything had to have the Fire Lord's face on them. It was charming in its own way, if Mongke was remotely capable of appreciating such things.

The boutique was long and thin, with items tagged and scattered in such a way to form three long rows from the entrance to the counter. Behind the counter was a warm-faced old woman, eminently pleased to have customers. She called out to the grim-faced men who marched into the shop, "oh hello there! Come in! Come in! Make yourselves at home! Take as much time as you want! If you need any help, all you need to do is ask."

Despite the warm and folksy tone, Mongke could still detect a hint of desperation in her voice. They must've been the only customers she'd had all day. In Mongke's mind that made her an easier target for intimidation. He wandered up to the counter just behind Zuko and spoke in sinister tones, "yeah…if you value your merchandise, you can start by spilling the beans on…"

Zuko held a hand up to Mongke's chest to ward the soldier off, and stepped forward on his own. The grimly determined young boy sprouted a wide and honest smile on his face, and spoke with friendliness and respect towards the woman, "thank you, that's very kind of you. I noticed the herbs you displayed out front. They're from Mount Pu Tuo in the north, aren't they? I recognised the texture."

"Ooooh…a connoisseur?" the woman complemented the customer, "don't get many of those, these days. You're right, they do come from Pu Tuo. There's a nice young lad who comes down here every day, transporting coal and stuff to the depot and back, and he always brings some herbs from there with him. Good thing, too. It's almost impossible to get stuff these days, what with developments going on."

"Yeah, it's a shame," Zuko concurred, leaning over the counter conversationally, "you don't have some spring bud blossoms do you? I've mostly been making green teas lately, but I'd like to try to make some Pai Mu Tan for once."

"A do-it-yourself tea-maker, huh? Don't get many of those, either," the woman turned her back on Zuko and looked through the cabinet behind her, "it's so encouraging, you know. About the only people who appreciate the delicate and hand-made seem to be my age. But here you are, young boy like yourself going out of your way to find the best tea leaf you can. It warms an old girl's heart."

"I think your heart's pretty warm already, madam," Zuko flattered.

"Oh please, call me Yunnan," the shopkeeper found the shelf she was looking for from the collection and considered a jar carefully, "oh bother…funniest thing. A few days ago someone came in and asked for exactly the same thing. Now I've just gone and sold all my ground stock and forgotten to grind some more. Would you like me to grind this for you?"

"Yes, thank you," Zuko poked around subtly, exuding friendliness out of every pore, while Yunnan emptied the contents of the jar into a mortar and began grinding with a pestle. Zuko prodded, "I'm surprised. I thought white blossom tea would be more popular."

"It is _now_," Yunnan grinded, "I'd almost given up on finding new customers. That gentleman who came by the other day, I thought he'd be one in a million. But now I'd better get used to being popular again."

"Oh, sorry, I didn't realise it was a sensitive question," Zuko apologised.

"No need to apologise, I know how it is," Yunnan ground harder, "only seven years ago, this place was a downright hub. I'd get new people everyday, wanting to know about the old ways, the ancient stories, the mystic heart of the Fire Nation. Then one by one they disappeared. No time for the old ways, they say. We got a bright, gleaming, sparkling new future ahead! Who needs tales, incense and herbs when you got operas, Victory crunchy-sticks and _Yantai Institute happy pills_!"

Yunnan's anger spilled over into the herbs, which burst into flames. Realizing that she was holding a bowl of fire, the shopkeeper uttered a panicked squeal and began blowing furiously into the mortar, patting out the flames with one hand until the flames eventually died out. Looking sheepishly into the fried remains of her produce, Yunnan looked back and laughed nervously, gingerly placing the mortar to one side, covering her tracks "I'll…whip up another batch. It's no trouble!"

"It's okay," Zuko forgave. Mongke would've chuckled if the banality of the rest of the conversation hadn't dulled his mood. Zuko pushed further, "you're a Firebender?"

"Oh yes! I did my bit for my Nation, too…" Yunnan prepared another mortar and relived past glories, "part of the Navy, once. I was an artillery officer in the Battle of Dong Nai River, don'tcha know?"

"I'm sure you were magnificent," Zuko commended, "I'm glad I'm not the only one who appreciates what you've done for the Fire Nation, at home and abroad."

"If there are more people in the Fire Nation like you and that man, I wouldn't even mind being forgotten," Yunnan paused in her grinding and looked up wistfully, "he was such a nice man…"

"He sounds like a great person," Zuko pounced, "I'd like to meet him."

"Not likely, m'afraid," Yunnan went back to her grinding, "sounded like he was just passing through. He was so courteous and patient…but it still felt like he had a ship to catch, you know what I mean? Didn't say where he was going. I did ask, he just said 'nowhere in particular'. I did wish him a safe trip…"

"Sounds like you think of him as more than just 'nice'," Zuko grinned. Yunnan blushed like she was sixty years younger.

"He was just a _really charming_ man, nothing more," Yunnan teased, finishing with the herbs and pouring the ground remains back into the jar, "here you go. That'd be 10 Shu. I don't suppose you have your eye on anything else, do you?"

"Actually," Zuko picked up the jar of herbs and pocketed it, "I don't suppose you have any White Lotus Pai Sho tiles, do you?"

"Huh…" Yunnan blinked at the odd request, "…not…_individually_, if that's what you mean. They come as part of the set. Buuut…" Yunnan checked under the counter, rubbing her chin contemplatively, "I _do _have some in bulk. Leftovers that I picked up one day. 100 tiles to a box. That'll be 50 Shu, though."

"That's okay," Zuko drew a 100 Shu note out the same pocket he'd placed the herbs inside, laying it on the table, "I think I'll be needing more than one."

"Okay, young man," Yunnan shrugged, taking the note from the counter and fiddling with paper and coins inside a compartment beneath the counter, producing a silver piece and three copper pieces, while leaning down and picking up a small brown wooden box with a slider set into the stop. She placed all of these items on the counter, which were duly picked up by Zuko and pocketed. She asked earnestly, "anything else?"

"No, that's everything," Zuko nodded affirmatively, motioning a hideously bored Mongke to begin walking out, "thanks for being so helpful. I hope your business does well."

"Of course! Come back anytime you want! Tell all your friends about us!" Yunnan smiled at the two figures disappearing down the rows towards the shop front, muttering in uncertainty, "even a handful would do…maybe just a couple?"

The customers disappeared, and Yunnan sagged. She picked up a broom and set about clearing up the cobwebs lingering around the place.

* * *

The shop door slid shut. Mongke turned and watched as whatever warmness had lingered on Zuko's face evaporated in an instant. Sternly, the Fire Prince called out into the deserted street, "he's not here."

"Aww man!" Ogedei yelled, emerging out of nowhere along with the other Rough Strollers in bitter disappointment, "all that for nothing!"

"My arm's falling off from under-use…" Kachi whined, stretching his swinging arm around to get something resembling exercise out of this day.

"So did we find out anything?" Yeh-Lu asked, ignoring his compatriots' complaints and getting to the heart of the matter.

"He came through Nagaoka to leave for somewhere else," Zuko stood fast against the complaints, "probably by boat. He might be tricking us, sending us off on a wild goose chase, but this is the best lead we've had."

"Agni help us, we're being outfoxed by a senile old nutcase," Ogedei drawled in contempt, "if I could just get my hands on that creep, _I'll _show him a few tricks he's never used…"

"Watch your mouth, brawler," Zuko marched up to the pony-tailed ball-and-chain fighter and stared at him fiercely, "if you don't respect your opponent, you'll be defeated at every turn."

"I've defeated hundreds of enemies in my time, _boy_, and I never needed to 'respect' any of them," Ogedei crossed arms and snarked back at the teenager.

Zuko kept staring, and never twitched a muscle, "you didn't defeat me…"

Ogedei looked down at the Fire Prince, fuming quietly at the comeback. Mongke knew the boy was right about Iroh. The Dragon of the West was not an enemy to be underestimated. But right now it was a matter of pride between the brawler and the Prince. Hard as it was for the Colonel, or any of the other Rough Peoples to admit, it was the Prince who held the upper hand in this clash. Ogedei was the last of the recalcitrants, but even he had to admit that when push came to shove Zuko could kick his butt with his eyes closed. The Colonel was, however, finding this cold-hearted, overbearing Zuko hard to reconcile with the warm, compassionate boy he saw inside the shop. But in this circumstance, the brawler didn't have a choice but to say through pursed lips, "…touché."

Zuko nodded, firmly but fairly, recognising a victory when he saw one and never dwelling on it for a second. The Prince marched past Ogedei down the street, ordering "we'll investigate the ferry docks. If no one's seen him go through there, we'll double back and head north."

"Wait…Your Highness!" Mongke interrupted Zuko's step and rushed forward to say his piece, "we've been waltzing up and down these streets all morning, without pause and without breakfast. My men need a break for food and exercise. You'll never hear the end of it, otherwise."

Zuko regarded Mongke, eyes briefly flitting over the rest of his men, with a distant, uncompromising gaze. Showing no sign of sympathy, he nevertheless gave the order "you have ten minutes."

A sigh erupted behind Mongke, and the Rough Legs fell out of formation, stretching arms, legs and other body parts out of inactivity. Mongke nodded to his commander, "thank you, Your Highness."

Zuko began to walk away without acknowledgement, but Mongke remained where he stood, and in recognising the Colonel's continued presence the Prince had to stop his walk down the long cobbled street and turn back to ask, "something else bothering you, Colonel?"

"Well…Prince Zuko…" Mongke wandered over and dropped his voice, "it's about what happened in the shop. How did you…do that? With the being nice and everything?"

Zuko's eyes drifted off to the other side of the street. What he asked seemed to be an uncomfortable question, which just made it more important to Mongke that he got a straight answer. The Prince answered, "I've found out recently…I'm a much better actor than I thought I was."

This proclamation sounded more like an admission of guilt than a royal's bragging. It seemed to be something he was deeply ashamed of. Whatever the reasons for it, Mongke could never hope to understand, but this entire episode had shown that Zuko was a far better commander than the Colonel had been willing to give him credit for. And far more difficult to understand. He wasn't sure what he was expecting the Fire Lord's scion, exile, enemy and hanger-on to be like, but it wasn't anything like this.

"Go on…get some rest," Zuko commanded, wandering away from the Colonel to be by himself. Earlier he might have interpreted that urgent need to get away from the rest of them as arrogance and haughtiness, but up close it seemed like an honest admission that he just didn't _belong _amongst others. He didn't know how to interpret it. It was something that happened to other people, as usual.

"Hey! Colonel!" Kachi called out from down the street. Mongke seemed distracted enough that it took a short moment for him to recognise his soldiers were calling his attention. He turned sideways and looked at the soldiers. Kachi was pointing his thumb down-street while the other soldiers were wandering away, "we're gonna do some sparring in that scrap-yard down the road. Get some _blood _pumping, y'know? Wanna come?"

"Uh…" Mongke didn't feel like sparring at the moment. He leaned back onto the nearest wall and voiced his thoughts, "you know that thing that commanders do sometimes? That whole 'gotta be alone for a while to watch the world go by and contemplate things and stuff' schtick? I dunno why, but I'm feeling an itch to do that."

"Ah, the old 'leaning 'gainst a wall looking deep' routine," Kachi understood perfectly, making a thumbs up as he walked back to the rest of the soldiers, "gotcha in one. We'll be back in ten! Good luck, sir!"

"You too," Mongke saluted, and duly got down to work contemplating things. He wasn't much good with that, so he quickly gave up. Mostly he just wanted _quiet_. The world around him broadly obliged. The shuddering and fuming of the factories was muffled by the lines of terraced houses, and these back-streets were mostly deserted as most people were either working, on the waterfront or in bars. A bar sounded like a good idea too, but ten minutes wasn't enough to get a good drinking round started. Consequently he settled down against the grey wall, watching the grey, smoky clouds above and listening to the clatter of wheels on faraway cobbles, the calls of crow-gulls, the distant thunder of the factories, the even more distant sound of the winds, ships and seas, and the tiny flutter of a piece of scrunched-up paper landing at his face.

That last sound had his head snapping away from the sky in puzzlement, and he looked down at the stonework to see, motionless without the wind in these enclosed streets, a small pink paper origami of a swan. Still leaning against the wall, he looked around to see who could have dropped it, but while there were a few other people wandering past at irregular intervals, none were anywhere near close enough to drop a piece of paper right in front of him without him noticing. Feeling unnerved, Mongke hesitated before leaning down to pick up the origami, looking it over from every angle to make sure it didn't come alive and bite him or something. Through this, he saw a small sliver of ink drawn onto the paper and realised that inside the folds lay a message.

Leaning back up against the wall, Mongke clumsily unfolded the origami, tearing it in a couple of places, but ultimately revealing the calligraphy written on the pink folded paper within: _The Dajie Den. 3 'o clock. Don't be stupid. _Mongke eyed both ends of the street with suspicion, and crumpled the paper into his pocket. Now he had something to lean against the wall and think about.

* * *

Aang wandered deeper. He'd been wandering deeper ever since he entered the ocean. It didn't seem like he was in water anymore, but he still drifted down deeper into the darkness. It wasn't complete darkness, though. Below his feet, something emerged from the gloom, a path. It was blue, dry and reassuringly solid. It curled around and down, each side of the path a precipitous drop, but these cliffs disappeared into nothing a short distance down, making room for the next rung of the spiral. Aang peered to the side, and saw the spiral form a tunnel, funnelling into darkness. As Aang wandered down, he looked up in wonderment at the underside of these paths. The cliffs became mere shadows, and the interiors were flickering messes. Stray shards of rock from above splintered into the path, but Aang passed through them as if they were mist.

Down and down he walked. Either for eternity or for an instant he couldn't say. He could walk backwards and still be moving down the path towards whatever it was below. He didn't know why, but whatever it was didn't seem threatening at all. It was comfortable, inviting, joyous. He could begin to hear the laughter. The honest, open laughter of knowing the way of the universe and being free of the tyranny of separation. Aang came to the end of the path and found a cave, suspended in the void. Inside, the path kept going.

For days…could it have been days? It must've been, it was so long a way…Aang walked through the cave, down twisting, turning, vast and narrow tunnels. Past endless drops and through narrow holes in the blue, dry, frictionless rock. Despite the challenges he faced, he never once felt challenged. It seemed to come to him naturally. He didn't feel any weight clambering over obstacles, or any sense of gravity running over thin bridges over endless chasms. The rocks didn't even feel like rocks. They left no dust, no mark, and they had no texture. They could have been solid clouds or unmoving foam for all Aang knew. He never really stopped to think. So much beyond held so much promise.

Past another cliff, through another tunnel, Aang came across a solid wall of liquid. It was a waterfall that didn't fall, a river that flowed from floor to ceiling, a pool that reflected without anything to reflect. Beyond it, Aang could hear that laughter. That laughter that promised to show him so much, to tell him so many things. He hadn't much to show them, but it didn't matter. It just seemed so welcoming. The wall of water lay in a chasm going left to right, and disappeared into a similar chasm in the ceiling. No part of it touched the rock except for a small bridge that crossed the divide and disappeared inside.

Aang stepped onto the bridge and came closer. The water before had merely been a step on the way. This was the real thing. The real ocean of life. He had only to step through and he'd no longer have to worry about being himself anymore. It was getting so tiring. He looked into the water and saw his reflection, a relic of himself, just to remind him of the corporeal thing he could leave behind. Just another step and it would become irrelevant. He smiled at himself. His reflection didn't smile back. Aang saw himself still in Airbender clothes, without hair and sporting his arrow, staring down at him in disappointment. Aang paused. Who was this?

The reflection changed. Now it was an aged Firebender staring down at him, twice his height. He had his arms in his sleeves and spoke compassionately, but urgently, "Aang, you cannot come here. This place is forbidden for us."

Out of a dim fragment of memory, something awoke. Aang spoke with deep tiredness "…us?"

"The Avatar Spirit is forbidden from this place," Roku stated. Aang knew the reflection's name…it was his name, after all. Roku continued, "I swore to dedicate my life to preserving the balance, just as you did. We all did, as one, back when the elements were first used by man. It is an oath that we can never rescind, never break, no matter how many lifetimes we pass through. The Avatar Cycle must never end."

"The Avatar Spirit…" Aang repeated monotonously, trying to remember, "I am the Avatar…"

"As am I…" Roku spoke gravely. His eyes glowed, and his reflection became fuzzy, unclear, as a thousand people became as one.

_**AS ARE ALL OF US.**_

Aang's confusion seemed to clear. Everything became acute, noticeable. The rock became solid under his feet. Gravity became heavy. The ground shook.

_**THE BALANCE IS IN DANGER. WE MUST RETURN. THE AVATAR MUST RETURN.**_

The ground shook violently, and Aang lost his footing. He fell, passing between the rock and the wall of water. The fall seemed endless, without bottom, and Aang could sense with greater ferocity that his heart was almost beating its way out of his chest in anxiety and terror. He screamed.

The rock disappeared from sight, and the water wall continued to frame his vision. Far beneath was the planet itself, clouds and continents visible through the purple texture of upon high. Aang flailed furiously and futilely, as the water wall became noticeably the surface of a sphere, and he fell away from it. Below him, a tendril leading from the surface merged with the base of the enormous sphere. It looked like a root. But the root was damaged, with holes poking through. With enormous, impossible speed, Aang cleared the distance between himself and the root, and flung his arms around his eyes as he fell through one of the holes.

Not feeling any kind of impact, Aang pulled his arms away and looked around. There were fleeting, flickering visions all around him, rushing past him like wind. There was the land, rocky but fertile. They became rice paddies. Then towns. Then cities. The land became greyer and greyer, the air murkier and more suffocating. And then it was dead, yellowed out, lifeless. He saw ships slamming into shores, soldiers marching. Fields of fire stretching from horizon to horizon. Thousands of people rattling in cages from unmentionable terror. A massive metal tower, rising blackly and menacingly from a bay of clear, silvery water. A comet passing overhead, turning the entire sky red. The seas black. The earth into a scorched desert. Trenches dug into the soil and mountains driven through. Two pillars standing proud, only to be assaulted by steel and gunpowder. Silvery caverns turned orange by the fierce sun. The screams of young things screeching unbearably, buried under black earth. Dozens of children, their hearts unbeating, giggling as water poured ceaselessly from their bodies. Pieces of fractured metal drifting through the water. His friends drifting through water. The white masks appearing in the water, amidst the wreckage of bulkheads and bodies.

_You promised, Avatar._

And now a white mask appeared inches from his face, its black eyes piercing him with their stare. No longer a vision, it felt real enough to touch, textured and alive and filled with incurable rage beyond reason or sense. Its anguished cry, screeching with the pain of centuries betrayed, drilled into Aang's skull like claws.

_GIVE US BACK OUR CHILDREN._

* * *

Aang gasped violently as he was catapulted out of his slumber. The physical world thwacked him like a train and he breathed so harshly he felt his lungs might just explode. His eyes bulged and fingers turned white from gripping the bed sheets, sweating streams into his red clothes and trembling so much he may as well have lost all his hair all over again and drilled through the floor. Katara was shocked awake at his rising, and took a moment to collect herself before smiling with relief.

"Aang! You're alright!" Katara leapt off of her stool and grasped Aang by the hand and the shoulder. The cold sweat and ceaseless vibrating caused her relief to be tempered with a realisation that all was not well in Avatar-land, "and…terrified out of your mind…"

Aang looked around fitfully, seeing only Katara in the room. He looked into her eyes fearfully, demanding to know, "_where is everyone!?_"

"I…" Katara looked around herself, having woken up at the same time as Aang, and never seeing them leave, "…I don't know. I didn't see them leave…"

"They're in danger!" Aang threw the covers to one side and leapt out of Katara's grasp onto the floor, "I have to warn them!"

"Aang!" Katara cried in alarm, "you can't…!"

"I know what you're gonna say! But…" Aang rushed towards the door a few frantic steps before his knees gave way. As he began staggering across the floor, all the fight seemed to drain from his voice, "…but…y'know what? You'd probably be right…"

Katara rushed over to Aang to stop him hitting the floor as he fell, suffering from disorientation. The Waterbender propped the Avatar up and managed to free hand to swing a circle around herself and flow some water out of her slung pouch, twisting her hand and spreading her weight to let the water move over Aang, trying some extremely rudimentary healing with one hand, "you're running a fever Aang. You need rest…"

"Don't worry about me…" Aang gasped, clutching at Katara through a misty haze of vision, "if you don't stop them…we'll all drown…"

"What do you mean!?" Katara swung her arm back to bend the water back into her pouch and free her other hand, "why are we in danger!?"

"_Go!_" Aang thrust an arm out at the door and looked angrily at Katara. Wracked with indecision, Katara looked at the door and back at Aang several times before finally getting up to rush across the room, flinging the door open and running through.

She paused to look back at the stricken Airbender, muttering worryingly "…Aang…" With no more time to waste, she shut the door and ran as fast as she could, stopping at the first corridor to ask aloud, "_where did they go, anyway!?_"

Aang picked himself up and crawled over onto the bed with as much strength as he could muster. His body convulsed as he coughed, and he collapsed onto the bottom end of the bed, without the strength to so much as pull the sheets over himself. He breathed harshly, and loudly, and he gulped as he considered…at least this meant he was alive. If his body wasn't a boiling, aching collection of limp, useless tubes, that may have just been a reason to smile.

**To Be Continued…**

**_Avatar: The Last Airbender _**Concept and Characters © Nickelodeon 2005-06

* * *

**Author's Note: **Not much word count left, but I just want to say this has been my favourite chapter to write so far, especially the Rough Rhinos and Aang. Also...I'm writing fan fiction primarily to improve my writing style, so if it seems 'wordy' or overblown..._please _pointit out. I loves me some feedback.


	5. Shadow Puppet

Wan had to give the door a good shunt before it opened. Rust had soldered the hinges shut, and ashamed as Sokka was to admit it, the engineer was actually the strongest out of the three of them. Light invaded the dark, damp space beyond. Where the corridors were getting cramped and claustrophobic, the Shaft Room was vaulted by comparison. Through the gloom, Sokka could see two long, thick shafts stretch across over his head and disappear into the far wall, rumbling constantly from the ceaseless spinning going on inside the both of them. Twelve ladders led up to the shafts, bolted onto the side-walls of the vast room. On the floor itself the group was boxed in by two long bulbous objects, mirroring the shafts above and leaving little room for walking between them. Wan led them between the structures in single file.

Sokka realised the shafts above drove the propellers, but he had no idea what these massive things either side of them were. Toph could have hazarded a guess, since they were made of the same impure metal the engine was made of, as were the huge propeller shafts. But she was content to run her fingers along the smooth surfaces and feel the clicks and clunks going on within, a smile plastered on her face. Beyond the structures, between the narrow path and the back of the ship, vast piles of debris filled an otherwise empty space of floor. There were metal sheets, metal pipes, metal joints and other appendages. Toph was getting giddy with this sensory overload.

"Geheheh…eheehee…hee!" Toph giggled in megalomania, picking up a single small length of piping and holding both ends in her palms. She squeezed the pipe between the hands, and after some straining ended up crumpling up the pipe into a thick, squat ring. Her smile became wider and her laughs creepier, "heeheeheehee…gahahaha!"

"_Ming Zhiiiii_…" Sokka warned testily, subtly warning her that they were supposed to be maintaining disguises, "don't make creepy laughs in dark rooms. You'll scare Momo."

Toph's smile degraded into a sly grin, and she tossed the crumpled ring to one side. Petting the winged lemur, she murmured, "c'mon, Gameshin. Momo _loves _the mystery of big, haunty rooms, don'tcha?"

Momo purred in complete indifference. He was an animal. He honestly didn't have an opinion one way or the other. Wan hadn't been paying attention to their antics and was concentrating on pulling things aside to reach the thicker metal plating hidden underneath the scattered remnants of engine. The old man turned to explain, resting a hand on a protruding pipe, "now, in a perfect world we'd be doing the _Gang Shen _over whenever we got in dock, but with 'Don' Xuan running things upstairs we don't get a choice but ta make repairs on th' fly in this ol' bucket, so that means we gotta have scrap sailing with us. 'course, no one thought've a 'scrap room' when they built this hunka junk, so we ended up dumping it in th' Shaft Room. Some of this is leftovers from old repair jobs, and some is jus' junk picked up from port to port, but it all gets sacrificed to Our Lady whenever she gets uppity fer whatever reason."

"Cool!" Sokka admired the practical ingenuity the engineering crew seemed to have developed out at sea. In many ways it reminded him of dad…if dad had doubled in age, found religion and lost all sense of humour. Shuddering the disturbing thought out of his head, he tried to approach the question that had been nagging him, "you know…the 'God of Steel'…how come you worship her if you _hate _her so much?"

"Ye're getting no exposition from _me_, sonny boy," Wan was not in the mood to share his feelings, if he was even capable of such a thing, and challenged Sokka, "now can ya tell me what ya forced me ta drag ya down here for? I gotta _ship_ ta run, y'know…"

"Oh! It's…" Sokka darted his eyes back to Toph to come up with a convincing cover story, smiling once he found one, "my friend here! She's real interested in metals and she wanted to have some to experiment with. She…uh…comes from a family of salvage merchants, and sheeee…wanted to know about the stuff they were scrapping. You know. Wanted to actually _build _things. You know? You…_do _know, right?"

"Yeah…thanks…I get it," Wan turned to Toph, picking up an oval slab of metal plating, "ya think ye can work with metals, kid?"

"Heh…you could say that…" Toph gleamed in the dark, exuding more confidence than could be contained in the vast room.

"Try this on fer size, then…" Wan chucked the metal slab towards the blind Earthbender. Momo screeched and ducked, providing the only clue Toph had that something big and heavy was flying towards her face. Her smile was wiped off as the plate rebounded off her forehead, leaving her paralyzed in shock and wincing in a delayed reaction to the violence inflicted upon her forehead. Sokka flinched, and remained flinching as he reflected on how much that must've _hurt_.

Toph's facial features screwed tight, it was only after many seconds of awkward silence that the Earthbending girl threw a hand up to her forehead and squealed pitifully, "…ow…"

Wan leaned towards Sokka, unimpressed, "not too sure meself, but I'm thinking metallurgy ain't exactly her calling."

Sokka pursed his lips in uncertainty while Toph's unseeing eyes snapped open in anger. She leaned down to snatch up the metal plating with one pronounced swing, swallowing an urge to pummel the smug old man into the wall. She held the plating in both hands and felt its reassuring weight. She could work with this. She felt its corners and smacked it against her palm, feeling every little texture of the object. A step down in her ambitions to make the ship her plaything, to be sure, but once she investigated it thoroughly enough, no metal would be safe. She smiled.

"That what you're looking for?" Sokka asked. Toph nodded in satisfaction. Sokka's interest in the ship's workings had been rapidly waning ever since the first insult was hurled his way. With that in mind, he turned around and faced Wan, shaking a hand and saying as politely as he could, "well, thanks so much for the tour but...we'd better be going. Our friends must be looking for us by now, and I'm sure you have a lot of engineer-type things to do." Sokka grasped a hungry-fingered Toph's shoulders with his arm and retreated with his thumb pointing backwards, "I gotta say, though. You gotta _reeaal _good ship...god...ship thing going on, it's definitely been worth the trip! Real inspiring stuff! Good luck with the repairs annnnnd we'll just get outta your hair..."

"What d'ya think ye're doing?" Wan asked in a deadpan voice, eyes fixed narrowly on Sokka's cranium.

Toph felt Sokka's muscles tighten on her shoulders and, knocked out of her gluttonous satisfaction, sensed that something was wrong. Sokka wilted under the engineer's gaze and ground to a halt, wiggling his backward-pointing thumb, "uhh...getting outta your hair?"

"Ya drag me down here, grab some plating an' skidaddle. I dunno what ye think it looks like, but it looks mighty suspicious ta me," Wan drawled, "ye're up ta something."

"Huh?" Sokka panicked, frozen to the spot and reaching slowly for his boomerang. Toph walked forward out of Sokka's grasp and slid her feet apart, planting them into the ground. She felt edgy, but also strangely confident, in having something she didn't possess before...a weapon. Sokka steadied himself as well, but he lacked the confidence to go with his edginess, as he attempted to roll over in his mind what could possibly have given them away. He covered up, "...no we're not..."

"Yes y'are, an' I knows what it is..." Wan approached, eyes focused. Sokka gripped the edge of his boomerang, sweating buckets, while Toph held the metal plate out with her palms facing upward and tensed in anticipation, smiling softly at the chance to show herself off. Wan pointed an accusing finger, "...an' I'm tellin' you right now..._stay away from Shui_!"

Sokka's grip relaxed, less from relief than from perplexion, while Toph let the plate drop to her side in disappointment, _so close _to finally using her abilities. Sokka winced, making strangled noises of "...uhhhhh...wha?"

"She got no family besides me, so it's up ta me to take care of her, an' that means makin' sure she don't run off with th' first _yahoo_ that comes along!" Wan jabbed his finger at the warrior, "I seen ye're type a thousand times, seducin' poor, witless girls with yer suave an' yer good looks, promisin' to show 'em th' world an' splittin' soon as th' coast's clear."

Toph erupted into giggling, covering her mouth as she muttered, "I dunno about good looks, but..._suave_!? He couldn't be suave if the world depended on it!"

"_I can be suave! _Don'tcha dare disrespect mah groove, kiddo," Sokka fumed angrily at the blind, grinning girl, forcing himself to mellow out and relax when facing Wan, "but...look...you got it all wrong! I don't want to take Shui away! I'm already with someone else!"

"Who?" Wan said sceptically, glancing down at Toph, "her?"

"What?" Toph blushed fiercely, covering it up with a gutteral "_Ugh!_" and taking a step back from Wan, sticking a tongue out in abhorrence, "don't say _that_! That's disgusting!"

Sokka raised an eyebrow at Toph's behaviour, "overreacting much? Ain't no shame in liking the Gameshin-meister. There's more than enough to go round, I think you'll find."

"Sure...it's like a plague except...boy-shaped," Toph got her grin back, but Sokka was overcome with a foul mood, taking one of the Earthbender's bangs and tugging harshly. The lopsided angle Toph's shoulders were pulled into sent Momo falling into the blind girl's wincing head.

"_...that...hurt...you insensitive jerk..._" Sokka whispered through gritted teeth, letting go of Toph's hair to make her head rebound, sending Momo reeling backwards and into the air, where the lemur took advantage of the confusion to get away from the Earthbender's petty needs and planted himself comfortably atop one of the floor-bolted cylinders, curling up to nap. Sokka coughed to address Wan again, "but...seriously...you got nothing to worry about. Shui's nice 'n all...nicer than _you_, anyway...but I don't even _know _her. We're really just passing through, and taking some real, honest interest in the thing we're sailing in. Is that so hard to believe?"

"Yes," Wan answered shortly, "no passenger ain't never been half as interested as you folks. And ta end it jus' like that...y'all know so much yet it sounds like ye never been on a steamer before. How many times in _Gang Shen_'s name don't that come 'bout?"

"Not...often...?" Sokka hazarded a guess.

"None," Wan answered. A short silence and one of Momo's eyes opened on sensing something far away. Wan continued "none in all my 60 years of engine work. So if y'aint doin' this ta chase girls, why _are _ya doing this?"

"...uhhhh..." Sokka came up blank of cover stories, scratching his head impotently. Toph wasn't even trying, so impatient was she to start metal-bending that she honestly didn't mind her partner slipping up just to give her an excuse to send things flying. All their thoughts were interrupted by the high-pitched screech that erupted from the cylinder to the left of them. Momo stretched up on all fours and his fur stood on end as he screamed at the wall of the Shaft Room. Sokka was the first to comment, "what's up with him?"

"Whatever it is, can'tcha get it ta shut up?" Wan gestured at the lemur, turning back towards the scrap pile to repile the scattered remnants he'd flung aside earlier, "y'know what? I don't even care anymore. Jus' get outta here an' take that _thing _with ya!"

"Don't call Momo a thing! You'll hurt his feelings! Ain't that right my fuzzly little scruffy pups?" Sokka stroked the lemur's back to calm the animal down, feeling his racing heartbeat and regretting the day he wasn't agile enough to claim the creature for lunch. He felt succulent even today. Sokka took Momo in his arms and imagined him cooked over a roaring campfire and eaten off of a stick, stroking him as he reminisced longingly for those carefree days when meat-eating was a respectable and morally-unchallenging pastime. Despite his misty-eyed nostalgia, the warrior did notice after a while that Momo was continuing to tremble continuously while facing the wall. Looking up, and side-to-side, he could see that the wall didn't stretch all the way across the room, and that there was another compartment on the other side...a compartment someone seemed to be tinkering around in suspiciously. Sokka asked, "Wan...sir...should there be anyone in that room right now?"

Wan paused in the middle of his scrap-redistributing and looked to one side in annoyance, "no...an' if there is I'm gonna give 'em some Dragon-fire fer going in without permission!" The engineer threw a metal sheet to the ground and stalked his way towards the other compartment, jabbing one finger at the ground before Sokka and Toph, "don'tcha budge from this spot, y'hear me!?"

Wan was already near the corner of the bulkhead when Sokka disregarded the engineer's instructions and wandered closer to investigate. His progress was stalled when Toph took hold of Sokka's hand, bidding him to stop. Toph had been troubled by something when it became obvious Momo had reacted against someone's presence in the nearest room. With all the rust spread around and the residual vibrations set off by the propellers, it should have been easy to tell at least a few vague, fuzzy footsteps next door. But she couldn't feel a single thing apart from the monotonous grinding of the machines. Unless they could fly, there couldn't be anyone next door. "Sokka..." she whispered, holding the Water Tribe boy in place, "...I don't like this."

Sokka felt unnerved, since _Toph _feeling unnerved was a rare and troubling thing. The warrior sighed sympathetically, since he was usually the first to break ranks when faced with weird and spooky stuff, but it wasn't like he could hand the duty to anyone else close by. Sokka admitted, "I don't like it either," and he tugged Toph's hand to pull themselves along, "but that's why we have to check it out."

* * *

Katara had been asking every passing passenger if they'd seen the short girl with pigtails and pale irises and the tall, knuckle-headed boy with more muscle than sense...and he hadn't that much muscle, it had to be said...but drew mostly blank looks. The winged lemur had struck a chord though, so it was pretty easy to home in on the engineering section.It might have taken longer, but Katara was getting short-breathed from running in blind panic and was still charged with adrenaline. She opened the door to the Engine Room without taking the slightest notice of the sign. "Have you seen a boy and a girl with a lemur in here!?" Katara yelled over the roar of the God of Steel.

Shui was leaning upside-down from a balcony while fixing a length of pipe inside the wall above one of the furnaces, and didn't budge while looking down at the disguised Waterbender. The assistant paused and said "yeah! Wan's showin' 'em ta th' Shaft Room!"

"Thanks!" Katara shouted, disappearing from the door to let Shui go back to her work. She hadn't made a full twist of a bracket before Katara ran back to the door and screamed panickly "_where's the Shaft Room!?_"

"Bottom deck, back of th' ship, can't miss it!" Shui pointed her spanner down towards the floor in front of the engine, where the ship's aft sections apparently were.

"Thanks again!" Katara shouted hurriedly, disappearing again as she hurtled from the Engine Room, driven by the need to save the lives of those she loved.

* * *

Wan peered around the edge of the bulkhead and went "whut th..." quietly before striding through into the adjoining room. Sokka, keeping Momo relaxed in his arms, peered around after Wan and found a room largely identical to the one behind them, except with a slanted wall and without piles of scrap. He also saw a small boy with messy hair peering into a square hole set in one of those cylinders planted on the floor...still having no idea what they were. Nandi twisted around in shock when the engineer yelled at the top of his lungs, "_what're ya doing in here ye little brat!?_"

"Heyyy..." Sokka whispered to Toph, "it's your pal from yesterday! That's sweet, he followed you all the way here!"

"You gotta be _kidding_..." Toph winced in _pain _at the mere thought of Nandi getting the better of her, cancelling out any relief she may have had at not having to face something weird and monstrous...though it still didn't seem very normal. No matter, she thought, her vengeance _was _coming soon and, she said aloud, "that kid is just_ asking_ for it, now."

"I'm sorry!" Nandi held up his hands and stepped back from the enraged engineer, speaking defensively, "I didn't know I wasn't allowed here! I was just looking around!"

"Ye didn't know?" Wan peered closer at the boy, "don't kids know how ta read these days? _It says on th' door! _'No Unauthorised Persons Allowed'! Whadya people need? Flashing lights!?"

"I...I was just curious..." Nandi shrank under Wan's gaze, clutching his own arms and avoiding the old man's stare. Wan relaxed a little and sighed loudly. Upon hearing a footstep his head spun round and noticed Toph and Sokka peering around the bulkhead...and sighed even more heavily.

"Don't tell me he's with you guys..." Wan heaved, getting exhausted with this whole morning. Sokka grudgingly stepped out into the room, prompting Toph to follow him. When Nandi saw Toph, his dour face lightened up.

"Hey! It's you again!" Nandi smiled broadly, "ain't that the freakiest thing? We just keep running into each other, don't we? You know...maybe that means something? What do you think?"

"No..." Toph said finally, snapping Sokka's hand away to step forward, "just...no, Nandi. I don't know how this stupid idea got into your head, but we're not friends. We're not even acquaintances. We're just a coupla kids on a voyage. Don'tcha even _try_ to make it more than that or I'm gonna pick you up by your neck and throw you overboard. Got it?"

Nandi's smile faded. He actually looked hurt at Toph's outburst, not that Toph would notice. What she did notice was the convulsive giggle that erupted from the messy-haired boy before he clamped both hands over his mouth. He looked from one set of eyes to another in something like fright. Sokka noticed that the veins on Nandi's arms seemed unusually...'veiny'. Wan groaned and dragged his dirt-covered palm down his face. With a heavy slap on the cylinder he shouted "that...is..._it!_"

"...that's it?" Sokka twiddled his fingers nervously.

"_That's it!_ I've had enough of th' lot of ya! I dunno what possessed me ta let y'all get away with this, but I bet _she's _behind it somehow!" Wan railed against the passengers, "ye come an' poke around my business, take my stuff, waste my time, an' _you_..." Wan pointed at Nandi, whose hands had dropped away from his mouth, "I ain't got th' foggiest idea whatcha doin', but judgin' from that mighty suspicious hole in the starboard aft stabiliser it looks like I'm gonna be wastin' _more _time cleanin' up yer mess!"

Wan stepped forward to make himself clearer and found a foot splashing in an expanding puddle of clear water lying at Nandi's feet. The engineer boiled over, "an' I'm gonna haveta clean _that_ up too! _Get out!_"

Sokka flinched as Wan spun his finger around to jab at the three others in the room, yelling, "an' that goes fer ya too, ya self-serving punks! You gotcha stuff, now get lost!"

"Sure thing, boss!" Sokka made a nervous salute and reached for Toph, only to have to bring his hand back around to clamp down Momo, who had been throwing a hissy fit and attempting to leap forward to attack something. Sokka lowered himself to stroke Momo better, but it didn't seem to be doing anything much, "heyyy there, what's the matter with you? Smell something tasty? Smell something _dangerous_? What!? Stop squirming!" Toph closed her eyelids in frustration and leant an arm on the cylinder, planting her forehead in her hand. Sokka looked up and covered up his tangled nerves with a strangled chortle, "eheh...we'll be gone in a second! Promise!"

Wan chose to believe that and turned, a little surprised to see that Nandi was still there. He was sure the kid had gone. Wan's nerves were on edge by this point, "didn't I tell you _get out!?_" Nandi looked at Wan with unblinking eyes, not flinching the slightest at the engineer's tirades. Instead he lazily turned to one side and reached back up to the hole he had been tinkering in before.

"C'mon you stupid mangy furball! Stop it! You want to trap us with this crazy old man forever?" Sokka whispered urgently to the winged lemur he was trying to control, kneeling on the ground to stop himself tipping over from the effort. He paused when he felt his knee becoming wet, noticing that the puddle around Nandi's feet had been growing and now reached halfway across the room. It wasn't dripping from above, and a leak from below would've burst through, while this puddle just...pooled. Sokka summarised with "that ain't normal..."

The old man's veins were starting to pop, "don'tcha dare ignore me! If ye don't stop poking I'm gonna haul ya to th' Captain myself!"Nandi didn't seem to notice Wan talking, but another convulsive giggle seemed to be his response to the engineer's threat. This time the boy couldn't contain it...it just kept going, his body shuddering with endless giggling. He kept tinkering inside the cylinder, and the veins along his arm and neck bulged as he pulled something. The room shook, and the regular, rhythmic, predictable sounds of the Shaft Room became intermixed with a tangled jumble of mechanical screechings and yawnings. Toph's arm reeled off the cylinder in shock, and she planted her hands flat against the metal to try to find out what was wrong. Wan spun around to every small thing that broke in the shuddering room, and lunged forward to grab Nandi, "_what did you do!?_"

Nandi warded Wan off by slamming his palms into the cylinder, making an impossibly large thud. His head bowed between his arms, his quiet giggling became hysterical, taking over his entire body while his veins bulged unnaturally. Toph felt the impact Nandi's hands made, and could feel how the metal sank under the force of the boy's blows. This startled her, but what Toph discovered next froze her spine completely. The hands that pressed into the metal surface were not the hands of a living, warm-blooded creature. He...it...whatever Nandi was...had no pulse or movement inside beyond the convulsive giggling that made her tremble with anxiety. Wan stepped back fearfully, "...what's _wrong _with you?"

Nandi's blood-shot right eye glared madly just over his arm, concealing the rest of his grinning, giggling face, as he spoke between bouts of convulsing, "...not me...you...hmhmhehmmhmhehmhmhehm..._everything's _wrong with you!"

Sokka snarled, dropping Momo to the floor and standing in one swift movement, staring in anger as he drew his boomerang. It was bizarre, it was abnormal, and Sokka was _not _going to let this crime against humankind _exist_. "_Get away from him!_" he cried, rushing forward to push Wan to one side and strike with all the strength he could muster. His boomerang became embedded in the metal, and with his eyes screwed shut a few moments passed before he blinked and found that he hadn't struck anything except thin air. Looking around as his breath quickened, he had to place both his feet on the cylinder to get his weapon back out. The warrior rasped "where did he go!? _Where did he go!?_"

"I...I don't know..." Wan was suffering shock, barely reacting when Sokka finally got his boomerang out and plummeted to the floor with a yelp of surprise. Wan looked around furtively, "there was this blur an' then...nuthin'..."

"I can't feel him!" Toph stood her ground, ready to face whatever it was, "he's not on the floor!"

"He has to be _somewhere_! Keep looking!" Sokka picked himself up and looked at every empty corner of the room, weapon-ready and on-edge, "what in the world _was _that!?" Wan was coming back to his senses and scanned the room his own way, seeing nothing, and Momo had taken to hissing at every shadow that passed near him. They primed themselves for the smallest hint of Nandi, tracing every sound and every sight in the clanking and clunking Shaft Room.

A metallic groan rang out from behind them and Sokka spun off his boomerang instinctively. Twisting round to put the right force into the swing, it was only when the boomerang left his fingers that he noticed who it was he had aimed towards. He called in panic, "_duck!_"

"Wha? AGH!" Katara yelped when she stepped into the room and looked aside towards the spinning metal blade flying at her. She ducked into a squat and allowed the boomerang to pass over her head, only daring to peek out when she was sure her head was safe, murmuring "uhhhhh..."

"Kat...egh...nnn...!" Sokka strangled his vowels in panic, and when he managed to grab hold of his boomerang again he pointed it straight at Katara, "_woman! _Get back! He'll see you!"

"What're you..." Katara stood upright and spun around to find out what Sokka could be talking about, "I don't see any..." She was interrupted by the feel of cold water dribbling onto her head. Confused, she felt the top of her scalp with her hand and looked up at what could be leaking overhead. What she saw was the intense, blood-shot gaze of a giggling messy-haired boy, smiling manically upside-down a few inches above her face. She barely had time to gasp before her vision became blurred.

Sokka leapt across the room and swung wildly at the thing that had just hung in the air and spun its knee into the back of his sister's head. Before the swing had the chance to connect, Nandi's body had flung backwards at incredible speed, disappearing into the shadows. The warrior caught the Waterbender before she collapsed on the floor, unconscious. Sokka was distressed, but too angry to register it, and cajoled the girl who lay in his arms, "Katara! _Katara! Wake up! _You _gotta _wake up! Now!"

Toph took a stance in spite of its uselessness on the pure metal floor. Wan took his spanner in both hands, planning on using it as a weapon, and darted his eyes to and fro. Momo crawled along the floor, hissing at everything, but as he turned to confront something, just beyond Sokka and Katara, the animal let out a frightful shriek. Wan saw him being dragged into the blackness that hung around the room, and realised he hadn't much time. He leapt forward as Nandi flew out of the shadows, shouting "look out!" The spanner was swung, but Nandi had already spun his entire body around the engineer and his leg swung out sharply at Wan's neck, making him slowly fall to the floor as his muscles gave out.

Sokka drew up his boomerang and plunged it at Nandi, trying to get the thing while his back was turned, but the boy's hand struck out and clamped itself over the warrior's face. The grinning face, veins bulging on his forehead, jerked towards Sokka and set its mad gaze on him. Sokka didn't have the chance to collect himself before being shoved back head-first towards the cylinder. The Water Tribe boy's thick skull was propelled into the metal, making him cry out more in shock than pain as Nandi used his rebounding head to flip over to the top of the cylinder.

Toph felt the force of the impact, and punched her fingers through the impure metal of the stabiliser. She gripped her hand-hold and pulled herself quickly to the top to face down Nandi, lying like a rag doll on the metal surface. She shifted quickly into a stance and yelled, "_gotcha!_" A foot stamped down and sent a wad of metal up into the air before Toph. The blind girl flew a fist forward to send the metal flying at the creature before her...only for the metal wad to fly a few feet before slowing to a halt and plummeting with an iron thud. Toph's determination wavered, realising that metal-bending was still new to her, muttering impotently "...huh."

Nandi staggered upright and swung round to face Toph. She noticed that one foot was lying on the cylinder surface with little weight being pressed on it, like he was being held up by strings. She didn't have much time to observe anything, as Nandi rapidly closed the distance between them, limbs dragging behind him. Toph dropped to the roof and spread her fingers out, dragging up a metal wall to halt Nandi's progress. The boy's toes disappeared from Toph's vibration-sight, but she was starting to wisen up to the creature's tactics, and grabbed onto some metal to her side, dragging it out into a sphere to protect her flank.

Toph was new to this, and hadn't thought of how her manipulating the metal had weakened the thin layer's stability. When Nandi dropped down and kicked the sphere Toph had created, breaking it through the casing, the Earthbender didn't have any choice but to propel herself out before she was crushed by the stabiliser's machinery. Toph splashed into the wet floor, sprawled painfully from the sudden leap. The room shuddered again, the machines heaving and screaming in mechanical agony. Toph's breath quickened when she heard another splash, of something whose limbs swung limply, who dragged himself up effortlessly and who couldn't stop giggling.

Toph could hear the giggling approaching, but couldn't do anything about it. She dragged herself back. His feet dragged across the puddle, hanging uselessly from his legs. Sokka groaned, unable to muster the strength to rub his head. Wan was up earlier, but the strike on his neck left him with blurred vision and no sense of gravity or distance. He could see the grinning, giggling boy approaching Toph but couldn't do anything about it. He couldn't keep his balance when the room shuddered again. Toph had crawled all the way to the bulkhead, and could go no further. Nandi stopped his advance and leaned down over Toph, that smile etched onto his face, "...hmhmhmhehmhmhehmhehmhm...you're gonna be my friend, now..."

Toph jolted when Nandi disappeared and a slash of water cut the floor in front of her. Katara huffed, her hair half-dishevelled, while she swept around and swung her arms behind her. Somehow she managed to know where Nandi would next, and right behind her the boy flew forwards only to be caught by a water-whip, thwacking him into the wall. Nandi was stopped from flopping to the floor by an unseen force, keeping him staggered upright and giggling like a ventriloquist puppet. Katara's nostrils flared and she stared intently and angrily at Nandi, arms held outward with fingers stretched out, one hand higher than the other.

The room shuddered. Nandi's veins bulged thicker than ever, and from a dead halt he thundered forward towards the Waterbender. Katara thrusted her hands out, palms facing outward, and Nandi abruptly stopped in mid-air. His body shuddered with giggling, which increased in intensity the more pressure was put on him. His grinning head rolled from side to side on his shoulders with the convulsions, staring but unseeing. Katara screwed her eyes shut at the sight and swung her arms apart, breaking the flow. Nandi ceased convulsing, his giggling ending with a strangled "...grk...", and he fell face-first into the puddle, motionless. Katara opened her eyes, shaking them to keep them from tearing up, and rushed forwards to pull the boy over onto his back. The grin was gone.

Sokka blinked harshly as he finally got the strength to rub his head. He'd seen it all, and felt immensely confused. "Was that..." Sokka's thoughts were interrupted as he dragged himself to his feet, wiping off the water soaking through his fabric while dealing with a literally splitting headache. Wan had recovered and stepped forward, even more confused than any of them. Momo let out a pathetic mew from the shadows, too exhausted to be confused. Toph picked herself up and walked slowly to Katara, having a better inkling what the deal was than any of the others. Heartbeats didn't lie.

Katara swept a hand over the puddle to collect up some healing water, holding the glowing liquid over the boy's body. She concentrated hard on what was happening to Nandi, and when she found out she lot the water drop from her hands in shock. She didn't know what to say. Sokka leaned over and asked "well...is he okay?"

Katara looked down at Nandi, up at the others, and back down again, breathing slowly to calm herself. "He's dead..." she looked up to deliver the shock, "...he's been dead for at least twelve hours."

* * *

Captain Mayu wasn't really accustomed to the concept of 'down-time'. As far as she was concerned, this whole assignment was 'down-time' to her. It was the reason she requested a transfer from front-line duty. She felt she needed a break. And now she was here cataloguing the ship's journey and filling in the log-book. Understaffing...everyone fit and able was sent into front-line service, leaving the crew having to take on several jobs at once. She didn't mind much, since coordinating ferries was a pleasant break from coordinating the destruction of Earth Kingdom fishing towns.

Still, she thought as she pinched the bridge of her nose, a break away from the break would be nice too.

Mayu pushed the chair back and walked out onto the rear balcony. The Captain's Office was fairly sizeable, taking up the rear of the bridge deck and looking out on the aft of the ship. It was a place built for the Captain to look out over the open sea and sigh in that way people with immense power and responsibility did during their off-hours. Mayu didn't have much in the way of power or responsibility, so she just leaned on the rail and watched the trail of foam head off into the horizon.

Although her hair was pinned down, it still rippled in the wind. Her limbs relaxed, and she allowed herself to smile at the absurdity of it all. She half-looked at the ship's trail, since it was the most convenient thing to land her eyes on, as it sliced its way through the sea and claimed it for the _Gang Shen_. Except...

Mayu gripped the rail a little tighter to inspect the trail a little closer, face squinted in concentration. Eventually she stepped back, eyebrow arched, and walked back inside to open the speaking tube that led directly to the bridge. The Captain spoke, "Captain to Bridge...is it just me or are we drifting starboard?"

"Bridge to Captain. Course is straight ahead. Engine Room isn't reporting any problems," the young voice answered back tinnily, "do you want us to investigate, ma'am?"

"If you would, Lieutenant. Captain out," Mayu shut the lid to the speaking tube and settled back down again, tapping thumbs together in thought. Making an effort to relax, she took a deep breath, then flung her fingers at a tripod holding a waiting tea pot to shift her crankiness through her arm and out at the small pile of kindling underneath, setting it alight. Still working with only one hand, she picked up a small wooden box lying on the desk and emptied some of its contents into the pot, replacing the lid and leaning back into her seat.

Mayu had the pot ready beside her at all times in case she had sudden whims to relax like this. The water boiling, she took a cup and poured it out, pausing to close her eyes and breath in the sweet scent of Ti Kwan Yin through her nose. She soon regretted this when the office shook with a loud slam. Her tea ended up all over her face.

"Show me who's in charge!" a woman's voice rebounded loudly off the metal walls from the corridor outside, "show me who's in charge right now!"

"Please! Please settle down! Everything's under control!" Xuan called out loudly but soothingly in a desperate attempt to calm the woman down. Mayu sighed and calmly wiped the tea off her face, planting the cup down on the desk and standing up while Xuan negotiated some more outside, "we're doing all we can to find your son..."

"You're doing _nothing!_" the woman shouted angrily. Mayu opened the office door to step out and saw that the woman in question was slender and young and seething in rage. There was a bald-headed working man poking through the door behind her, but she seemed to be doing the dragon's share of the yelling. Xuan was facing away from Mayu, holding his hands out at the mother to placate her. It wasn't working, "he's been gone for _hours! _Someone _must _have found him by now! If you're not going to help me, then get me the Captain!"

"The Captain is a very busy woman, and she's already well-aware of the situation!" Xuan claimed. Mayu leant on the side of the corridor and listened with great interest at exactly what she was up to these days. He dug deeper, "we have everyone available scouting high and low for your boy! There's no reason to worry! You can relax knowing that _professionals _are on top of everything, and you'll be reunited with your son before you know it!"

"That's funny, I don't recall being aware of whatever situation you're talking about..." Mayu spoke in deadpan, getting some satisfaction from Xuan jumping at the sound of her voice, "and if you've got this team of professionals working for you, I'd really like to meet them, because we seriously need an influx of good talent around this place."

"Eheheheh...I didn't see you there!" Xuan turned and smiled jitteringly, "I was just sorting out this here passenger problem, 'cause that's what I do! Solve passengers' problems and ensure a comfortable experience! Just trifling things, really, for the customers. I know you need to concentrate on running the ship so I was just going to handle this myself..."

"Skip it, I'm really not interested in whatever scam you want to pull," Mayu came forward to address the mother more closely, "what's the problem?"

"I'm Kyo, and this is my husband Shuran," the woman pointed behind herself, and drew closer to the Captain, revealing that her hair was fraying and eyes shadowing in worry, "it's our son...Nandi. We were just walking down a corridor...on C Deck, I think...and he disappeared. I thought he was just playing games but...oh, Agni..." Kyo steadied her nerves by wiping her brow, breathing shallowly, "I looked for him, and...and I couldn't find him, so I went back to tell my husband and we asked one of the staff people and _this _guy..."

Xuan stepped back from the accusing finger Kyo pointed at him, and tried to cover his tracks, "the Hong Yu Guo personnel dutifully informed me about these poor parent's plight, and my men and I set about tirelessly helping them to find their wayward child!"

"What men?" Mayu interrogated the administrator.

Xuan shrugged "oh...you know...just..._men_..."

"We were stuck in this creep's office for two hours while he tried to get us to take free baths and swanky lunches just to keep us quiet," Kyo glared, "I knew he was doing crud all, so I thought I'd take it up a level."

"That's dedication to admire, really is..." Xuan clasped his hands together as if begging for mercy, "but still, the Hong Yu Guo Service is perfectly capable of handling any problems our customers may have..."

"That's irrelevant, sir, and you know perfectly well that's irrelevant," Mayu scolded the entrepreneur, "it is the responsibility of the ship's Commanding Officer to ensure that all passengers and crew on-board any vessel of the Fire Lord's Navy are known and accounted for at all times. If anyone is missing, this should be reported directly to the Commanding Officer so that a search party and head-count can be organised with due efficiency. The _Commanding Officer_, sir...not _you_."

"But...but..." Xuan stammered.

"_Not you!_" Mayu chastised, her face lightening when she faced Kyo again, "I deeply apologise for any delay. How long has your son been missing for?"

"...A...About four hours now..." Kyo blinked.

"And you're certain this isn't a prank? No chance he just got lost?" Mayu targeted her questions.

"No...I...I don't think so," Kyo's eyes shifted down in remembrance, towards her right hand, "Nandi just said something weird and...let go of my hand."

"Weird? How?" Mayu put her hand up to her chin.

"I don't remember..." Kyo bit her lip, "...I just know it was weird..."

Mayu nodded at all the details, making the quick decision in her head, "alright. There's something odd going on on-board and I'm going to get to the bottom of it. I promise we'll turn this ship upside down to find your son."

"_Mayu!_" Xuan whispered harshly, turning to smile at Kyo nervously, "eheheheh...I'm just going to talk over the uh...arrangements..." the administrator walked quickly over to Mayu and took her by the arm, twisting her away from Kyo's line of sight, leaning over to whisper pleadingly, "Captain, you might want to reconsider this a bit. If word got out that cute kids were going _missing _on my ships the damage would be irreparable."

"For the last time, sir," Mayu whispered testily, "this is not your ship."

"_Yes...it...is...!_" Xuan threatened out the corner of his mouth, "if not in name, then in deed, and don't you forget that, _Captain_."

Mayu looked Xuan in the eye and saw that he was not going to back down over this. Success was in his grasp and he was going to clutch it for all it was worth even if they all drowned in the attempt. There wasn't any negotiating with that level of mad desire. All one could do was channel it. She knew enough about Firebending to realise that. She nodded calmly, "I'll be _sensitive _about it..."

"That's all I ask..." Xuan relinquished Mayu's arm and allowed her to turn back to the couple. For a fleeting moment the two actually seemed to be co-operating. It was a useful illusion.

"We, the arbiters of the Fire Lord, will do everything in our power to set things right, Shuran and Kyo," Mayu declared, opening another speaking tube on the wall, "Captain to Bridge. Lieutenant, organise a search party. We're looking for a small boy." Mayu turned back to the couple, still holding open the speaking tube, "what does he look like?"

"He was always a thin child..." Kyo spoke uneasily, "he's 11 years old, and he's got brown eyes and tufty brown hair. I just want him to be okay. Please let him be okay!"

* * *

Nandi was laid down carefully, sacredly, upon the cold floor. The breaths of the others drifted through the freezing air, while the boy's lips stayed motionless, half-open, undisturbed by warmth or air. Katara had taken care to keep his messy hair out of his eyes. He looked ready to wake up any moment, but not a single movement rippled from his body. There was nothing left to do but to step back and close off the single ray of light that entered his resting place.

Wan jerked the steel door shut and twisted the key in the lock. They rubbed themselves slowly to keep warm in the chamber, a room with open space and lined with several doors like the one that they'd just shut. They had to step back and gather themselves for the next bout of necessary questions. It didn't come easy. There wasn't much anyone could say after someone had just died.

"So..." Sokka ventured, drawing everyone's attention in a rather uncomfortable way. He coughed to relieve the tension, "this is a good place to hide...him...then?"

"Th' coolant tanks keep this place freezin' as a Water Tribe closet," Wan glibbed, clearly less affected by tragedy than most people, "he'll be good fer now. I'm the only one with th' keys."

"I couldn't do anything for him..." Katara looked away from the door, cradling herself, "it wasn't like last time...I couldn't do anything..."

"You saved my life...wouldn't call that nothing," Toph shrugged as a comfort for Katara. Stroking Momo served as a good distraction for now.

"Yeah, ye can't go kickin' yerself. If not for ya, we'd be dead," Wan smiled at Katara, "and I gotta say, that was some fine Waterbending ye did back there..."

"Heh...thanks Wan, but..." Katara had looked up to smile until she realised what the Fire Nation engineer had just recognised. The air in the room somehow got colder as everyone else cottoned onto the mistake they'd made. Faces breaking out in delayed shock and unsure what to do, they all took battle stances around the engineer.

"Relax, I'm not gonna turn y'all in," Wan raised his hands to ward off any hostile moves, and the infiltrators relaxed their arms. They were just retreating back into their depressed silences when Wan began peering suspiciously at all of them, saying "least not till we gets ta th' Fire Nation."

A burst of surprise sent the team back into their battle stances. Sokka took the most offence, "not sure you noticed, bub, but we just saved your scrawny ass!"

"That's why I'm not gonna hand y'all in _right now_," Wan excused himself, "we need ta work together ta find out what it was that made this boy rise from th' grave an' start dancin' like a shadow puppet. An' something tells me you guys know lots more 'bout this stuff than I do."

"We do?" Toph wondered out loud.

"If we're working together, why do you want to expose us?" Katara questioned sharply.

"I'm a realist, not a traitor," Wan stared around, "I'll wait till yer off th' ship before yelling my head off. Sure, ye helped me, an' I'm grateful 'n all, but Water Tribe are still enemies of th' Fire Nation, an' that makes ya enemies of me."

"If you're gonna be _that _way, we're just gonna jump into a lifeboat and let you sink," Sokka threatened.

"Well, gee, funny thing 'bout boats...we all tend ta be in th' same one," Wan spoke condescendingly, "don't be stupid. Y'know 'bout the attacks! This could be part of them! An' what's th' safer choice fer...whatever 'tis ya Water Tribe people wanna do? Cross the sea in a great big ferry or some podunk dinghy out in the open? I'd wager ye'd be sunk before us."

"He's gotta point..." Toph registered how little the idea of a few days on a small dinghy appealed to her. Taking that as tacit acceptance, Wan stepped out from in-between the various battle-ready opponents and stepped out of the door, giving the group little choice except following him out of the cold room. As they stepped out into the dimly-light corridor, Wan slammed the door shut and locked it.

"I'm gonna go an' clean up th' mess you people left behind, an' try ta explain how huge chunks got ripped outta th' starboard stabiliser," Wan pocketed the keys and stalked off, "y'all knock ye heads together and try ta figure out what's causing this." Wan spun round and pointed sternly, "_I'm warning you_, Water Tribe! I'd smell if this thing were a Waterbender trap, so it'd better not be or y'all c'n kiss our deal goodbye!"

The group waited until Wan had skulked around the corner before daring to release their breath, wipe their brows and lick themselves in the case of Momo. Sokka drifted into a downcast, looking aside at the makeshift tomb they had inaugurated. He decided, "y'know, I keep thinking each day is the worst day ever...and then it just gets worse..."

"I think I'm pretty much sarcasmed out with all this," Toph shared the downcastness, her head nodding slightly upwards to talk, "but why did you come down here, Katara? Did something happen to Aang?"

"...huh?" Katara, lost in thought as she was, took a while before hearing Toph's question, shaking her head out to answer with a little start, "oh yes! He's awake! Aang's woken up!"

"Wait! Back up!" Sokka swivelled around suddenly, excitement reaching back into his face, "Aang's awake!? So...it's _not _the worst day ever?"

"There's something else," Katara said in deep seriousness, "he said that we were all in terrible danger."

Sokka's excitement faded, and his stare became dulled and jaded, "no duh? Most useful premonition in history...He couldn't have told us that _before _we got on the _Gang Shen_?"

Despite the door to the coolant room being sealed, a sudden chill came over them, and they found themselves clutching their bodies a little closer. The stabiliser shuddered again, reaching up to the corridor and dimming the lights as it passed. The shadow that had hung over the ship had turned sinister and deadly. It had already claimed its first victim, now entombed in ice, and hung ready to strike over every man, woman and child on-board the vessel of iron and gods.

**To Be Continued…**

**_Avatar: The Last Airbender _**Concept and Characters © Nickelodeon 2005-06

* * *

**Author's Note: **Now you see the reason for the T rating. The creepiness of the whole thing means it really needed those lighter, Avatar-esque touches just to get me in the mindset to write it. But I like the creepy. Perhaps to excess. You people be the judge.

It's been nine days since my last update. It IS usually quicker, except for two things: firstly, I'm home for Easter, so less time on the comp for me, and secondly...just the thought of writing this was making me feel ill. I was stuck on the first page until that whole argument on Sokka's sex appeal popped into my head. Then it came naturally. I'm over the writer's block now, so hopefully the next bits will be faster coming.


	6. Jingju Performance

The trouble with the stabiliser had been easy to fix once Wan figured out how. He'd appeared on the scene just as the rest of the engineers turned up, and gave a very thorough and detailed reason why the Shaft Room was shuddering its way out of the ship and why he hadn't told anyone until now. The engineers were trained to trust the chief, so the explanation was accepted with the fewest of grumbles. The solution involved a lot of splicing, some bolting, and one person having to go down every couple of hours to kick it for the rest of the trip. If anything it was easier than usual. One of Shui's first experiences on the ship was keeping a valve in a pipe over a massive drop for three hours with nothing except her teeth. Under no circumstances could they do anything so treasonous as stop for repairs.

The search party had been organised in good order, and in spite of her husband's protests that it would be better if she just stayed put and let the people do their job, Kyo lingered with Lieutenant Yin while he sent his men methodically through the rooms of the ship, asking people whether they'd seen a boy matching Nandi's description. Mostly they got blank stares and people mistaking him for someone else. After each round of questioning, Xuan was quick to mop up and provide discounts on hair salon treatment to ward off anything close to unease.

Throughout the ship, most were unaware of anything going wrong. Mostly they were either relaxing in the sun on the upper deck, throwing balls around, chatting the afternoon away, agonising about whether or not to use their rations on various luxury items the Hong Yu Guo Service was flogging with complements, or pouting in the shade and yelling at the young 'uns to keep their voices down. There were laughs and there were arguments, and even a couple of drunken challenges to an Agni Kai that both parties gracefully scarpered from. Life blossomed on board the _Gang Shen_.

Except there was one thing amiss aboard the ship that people did take notice of. Most of the children seemed very reluctant to come out and play. When they did play, they congregated indoors, complaining that the sun was too bright, or that the sea spray made their skin itch...any kind of excuse to keep away from the watery vastness they were immersed in. Many a parent tried to coax them out, but the sight of the water filled them with goosebumps. They couldn't explain it. They just didn't like it.

"But look," said one parent, pointing out at the deck to persuade the child to step forward, "_they're _having fun!"

Indeed, not every kid was spending their time indoors inside the _Gang Shen_'s steel shell. A few seemed perfectly happy to run around outdoors, making fun of each other, picking and flicking boogers, and all the other wholesome activities children were supposed to do in the summer sun. They were but a few, though. Five, to be exact. Two boys and three girls. Normal as could be, the boy was enticed forward.

The children, spread out over the deck, stopped and turned as one. They smiled at the boy, and giggled.

The boy shrank back and declared that he'd much rather play marbles with the kids below deck. The children continued playing as if nothing happened.

As far as the eye could see, the _Gang Shen _was a sliver of silver floating atop the vast blue yonder. But it wasn't alone. Beneath the waves, something else huddled closely to the hull. They could feel the life aboard the ship, and envied.

* * *

The three disguised friends of the Avatar had their heads bowed at the floor between them. The tone had been set for the day and it wasn't budging no matter how bright it was outside. Momo was using the opportunity to help himself to the group's supply of lychii nuts, and everyone else felt too dour to really take offence. A small lump groaned from the bed at the other end of the room, charged with fever but reassuring everyone that he was just taking some rest. Other than the churn of the engine and the call of the crow-gulls, the silence was so prevalent it was starting to burrow into their ears.

Sokka sighed heavily for the seventh time since they came back, "we're supposed to be talking strategy but all I got is how many screws there are between me and the wall."

"Can't talk. Moping." Toph answered succinctly.

The silence enclosed again, but Katara felt obliged to shove it outwards again. "Can we _please_ have an adventure where someone doesn't die?" she hugged her knees and looked up lazily, drawling, "I kinda miss those..."

"It's just such a _waste_," Toph waxed lyrical, "we'd barely met, and there were so many horrible, cruel, sadistic things I was gonna do to him and now I _can't _because someone else got to him first..."

"Moving, Toph. Moving," Sokka was getting agitated from lack of activity, "but we're not gonna figure things out just by maximising our glumness. First things first. What the heck _happened _back there?"

"A dead kid nearly beat the living snot out of us," Toph commented.

"Yeah...I noticed...but _how_!?" Sokka asked urgently, "Katara, you stopped him just by moving your hands around. What did you do?"

"I'm not sure...I...I just wanted him to _stop_," Katara drew her legs closer, "it was weird...like he was being dragged or something...and I...it felt like I was pushing something away...it's hard to explain..."

"It's...like he was a puppet...and Katara cut the strings..." Toph's eyes widened when she realised what that meant. Sokka realised too, and nearly jettisoned the whole idea out of his head. It was bizarre even by spooky bending standards.

"You're kidding!" Sokka was excited with anger, "you gotta be kidding! No way! _No frikkin' way!_ You're telling me that kid was being _waterbended_!?"

"He can't have been!" Katara defended herself, "all the scrolls I read, all the time I was being taught by Pakku, all the tales, all the legends, I never heard _anything _about a single Waterbender who could bend the _human body_! It's impossible!"

"Well I'll be glad to know what the heck else it coulda been, 'cuz I don't care what weirdness this world throws at me, I am _drawing the line _at _zombies_!" Sokka stabbed the ground with his finger, "last I checked, dead people don't get up and walk around!"

"What about Aang?" Toph suggested flippantly.

"That just proves my point! You don't see _Aang _getting up and walking around, do you!?" Sokka threw his arms towards the bed, highly animated in the terse room. The dead boy in question groaned loudly and buried his head under his pillow.

"...your voices are hurting my head..." Aang croaked. The sudden appearance of this voice jolted the others into remembering what it was they were heading to the Fire Nation for in the first place.

"Hey! Dead-Weight feels the land of the living to be worthy of his presence!" Toph smirked.

"Where did you get 'Dead-Weight' from, anyway?" Sokka fielded the question, since Katara was too busy rushing to Aang's bed-side for it to enter her mind.

"His toes couldn't twinkle if you poured icing over 'em," Toph shrugged, "good excuse for a new name as any."

"Aang...you were sleeping when we came in, I didn't want to disturb you..." Katara placed a hand on Aang's clammy arm, "and...I'm sorry. This stuff really is going to disturb you."

"...that's okay...I heard..." Aang struggled to turn himself over, gulping down breaths between sentences, "...I've...been awake all this...time..."

"You have to relax!" Katara slid her arms around herself to stream the water out of her pouch, flowing her hands over Aang's body to find the points of resistance inside his body. The water glowed, and once she started to think about the energy coursing through Aang's veins, the flow of chi that allowed her healing to work, the thought of not just easing flows but asserting herself over them came to mind. She pushed the possibility out completely. It was impossible. She didn't control the water, and if she thought she did she'd be a terrible Waterbender. She persuaded the water, coaxed it, allowed it to flow where she wanted it to flow, used its power and its force on its own, without claiming dominion over it. You could persuade water from a pond to leap up and string around, to adapt the way you wish, since water by itself is usually content to flow free and is under no other influence.

Blood is different. Blood has an influence already. It's _owned_. It's someone's _personal property_. You couldn't persuade water that was already committed to the greatest task of all...sustaining life. No Waterbender could do it even if they wanted to. Healing was a matter of coaxing water to go where it already wanted to go in the first place, easing pressures. To do otherwise would go against someone else's will. She looked down and realised that she was starting to soak Aang's shirt in distraction. She quickly swelled her hands upwards to persuade the healing water to do the same. Aang looked up and blinked blearingly, "...I'm fine...really...I'm just glad you got to them in time, Katara..."

"So, wait, Katara said you warned her that something bad was going to happen. _You knew _that something bad was going to happen," Sokka interrogated, "you're the only one with any idea what it is, you've been awake and listening all this time...and you haven't said a thing."

"...I would've...it's just..." Aang took a deep breath before launching into the next exertion, "...I've been kinda paralysed in agony until now. Okay...okay that's better...that's better..."

Katara swung her arms back to send the healing water back into the pouch. Aang pushed up on his arms but found leaning up harder going than he thought. His muscles had wasted into noodly appendages so he needed help from Katara and Sokka to drag his upper torso upright and his back to the wall. Once up, he took a series of deep, soothing breaths that seemed to make his intense dizziness easier to cope with. Katara asked, "so...what is it we're up against?"

Aang, who was previously fairly chipper about being awake and pampered by the girl of his dreams, became serious as he prepared himself for confrontation with something he alone was responsible for. The light outside the porthole was dazzling next to the room's indoor gloom, and all three of them sans a stuffed Momo were gathered around the bed. The Avatar began, "...do you remember, when we were passing over the Yalujiang, I talked about the Yalu Pillars at the mouth of the river?"

"Oh yeah..." Sokka recalled the silhouette from last night, "the ones the Fire Nation are using as bridge foundations. The jerks."

"Yeah, those..." Aang confirmed, taking a deep breath for the next bout, "...I said something about water creatures too. They used the pillars as nests. They were like giant honeycombs inside, where their young swam in pools. They're almost mythic with the stories surrounding them. Tales of white mask faces, voices without sound, taking over the living, and were either good spirits or vengeful demons depending on who was writing the story. I couldn't remember what they were called, but I remember 'em now. They're call..._hrk!_" Aang broke out in a fit of coughs, smacking his hand onto his mouth to contain them.

"Hey! Don't leave us in suspense!" Toph complained. Katara leaned in to support Aang as he coughed violently. After a while he calmed down, but he felt like his throat had been shredded, and Sokka was quick to pour out a cup of water while the Air Nomad was coughing and handed it to him as soon as he stopped. Aang gulped the water greedily and breathed deeply.

"...they're called...Shachihoko..." Aang croaked out, deciding to let himself recover. Even the name haunted the room, as Sokka and Katara looked at each other.

"So...these creatures lived in the Yalu Pillars...and the Fire Nation destroyed their home..." Katara figured out the gaps.

"And their kids..." Toph suggested.

"Annnd...they decided to gang up and attack Fire Nation ships with their creepy mythic fairy-tale powers?" Sokka winced, "c'mon, you can't be serious. These are _creatures_! Animals! They wouldn't know what vengeance _meant_!"

"Shachihoko are more than just animals," Aang interrupted, having recovered from his coughing fit, "their bodies are nothing more than water, and they're the spirits and guardians of rivers and streams. Many villages give tributes and blessings to them. With everything that's happened, I think we need to take those tales seriously. And that means we're being haunted by powerful and deadly Waterbending spirits who want vengeance against all of humanity for the annihilation of their entire race."

Aang's words put things into clear, awful perspective. The pregnant pause was unsatisfactorily filled with Sokka crossing his arms and claiming "I'll believe it when I see it."

"You just _did_," reminded Katara, seething in irritation. Sokka peered at his sister inquisitively. Eventually he threw his arms up in a shrug.

"Okay! I've been wrong before!" Sokka exclaimed.

"Wait a minute..." Toph realised, "how come you know all this?"

"Uhhh..." Aang concentrated for a second, trying to recall something that was several lifetimes ago, "I'm...not sure. I heard about the Pillars and how beautiful they...were a hundred years ago when I was in the area. I heard about the creatures for the first time then, but I'd just planned to leave it for another trip. ...actually...you know what, Toph? I've no idea how I learnt this stuff about the Shachihoko."

"Avatar junk?" Toph guessed.

"Avatar junk," the Air Nomad concurred, "but I know what I saw when I was out cold. I saw you all sinking in the sea, with the rest of the _Gang Shen_. That'll be our future if we fail."

"So what can we do?" Katara asked, "Aang...you're the bridge between the worlds. Between Mortals and Spirits. You're the one who's supposed to protect the balance and everything. Couldn't you do what you did with Hei Bai? Talk to them and calm them down? Make them see reason and stop attacking?"

"I could...except for one thing," Aang admitted with his eyes turned downward.

"What?" Sokka interjected.

"They've gone insane."

The words were close to an admission of failure for Aang. The balance was so far out of place that even the spirits were going mad. An insane Firebender they could manage. But an insane force of nature? How could _anyone _deal with that? If the Avatar himself couldn't put things right...they were horribly, tragically stuck.

"Oh..." Sokka reacted to the news, "rules that out, then."

"I don't know what to do..." Aang declared, breathing through a sudden bout of tiredness, "...but if we don't do something, we don't stand a chance."

"We could just grab a boat and get out of here," Toph suggested, "it's not like it's our problem."

"Yes it _is _our problem!" Sokka explained, "as much of a jerk Wan is, he's right. If his big 'n holy 'God of Steel' ain't good enough to protect us, there's no way we're lasting an hour in an _ironclad canoe_."

"But what about Wan?" Katara wondered, "he knows who we are, now! What do we do when he tells the Fire Nation about us as soon as we step on shore?"

"I got no idea...run real fast?" Sokka held his hands apart, trying to keep several strands of thought together, "we'll cross that river when we come to it. For now, we have to _concentrate _on these Sachichochichaka...things. We need to know what they're doing, what they want to do, and how we can stop them doing it. They worked through Nandi, but they couldn't've stopped there. They might try again with some other kid."

"We have a responsibility to put things right," Aang mumbled from under his blankets, "things just shouldn't be this way. These people are Fire Nation, but they need our help all the same. They're still people. We can't leave things like this."

"And on that cheerful note, let's get moving!" Sokka began striding towards the door, filled with a mission to uncover just what the heck was going on, "we should go out and ask around. Being cooped up in here all day won't help things."

"Wait! Sokka!" Katara left Aang's bedside to halt Sokka's march, "we can't leave Aang on his own. Someone needs to stay behind and make sure he's okay."

"Sure, while you're here stroking and petting your boyfriend, I can go get my insides hollowed out and turned into the Shachi-'n-Shachi road-show's star marionette!" Sokka turned and leaned into Katara's face, clearly needing a day off, "I need _you_...with _me_...chasing off the _children of the damned_...and...well...you're better at talking to people than me!"

Katara giggled at the sudden complement emerging out of the stream of abuse, calming herself to try to look confrontational, "if Aang gets worse while we're gone, this whole trip would be for nothing. We can't take him with us, so one of us has to stay with him."

"I'll stay..." Toph waved a hand side-to-side in what she guessed was the direction Katara and Sokka were in. The Water Tribe siblings had to both pause a while as the bizarreness of what Toph was implying impinged on their thought processes. They both slowly turned to face the blind girl, who was busy waving her hand with a curious look on her face.

"Sorry...uh..." Katara held her arms out to steady her thinking, "...what did you just say?"

"I said I'll stay..." Toph made it sound as natural as possible, "I'll look after Aang while you two go off and check the ship for creepy kids and strange happenings."

"...Toph?" Sokka queried, before breaking out into a smirk, "are my ears playing tricks on me, or did you just volunteer for a selfless, responsible task with much drudgery and little reward?"

"Got nothing better to do," Toph shrugged, hammering a foot on the steel plate she'd been dragging around to shunt it into the air and catch it in one hand, "anyways, I gotta practice with this thing. Might as well do that and babysit for a while."

"That's a really good idea!" Katara smiled, eager to encourage the merest smidgen of co-operation from the Earthbending runaway, "just make sure he's okay, will you? You know...keep talking to him...take his temperature...give him plenty of water...uhh...hope he doesn't need to go to the bathroom..."

"I'll be fine!" Aang giggled, slightly embarrassed, "I can do those things by myself! Just...worry about what's important, 'kay?"

Katara looked and eventually nodded, understanding what she had to do. Sokka opened the door to let Katara out, smiling back at Toph and saying, "I gotta say, Toph, I'm impressed! You really do have a sweet, nurturing, kittenish side in that smarmy, jerky shell of yours!"

Sokka barely flinched when a metal cup rebounded sharply from the edge of the door frame. Toph evidently saw that as an insult, but if anything Sokka's grin only widened, "hahah! Can't do anything now, can'tcha!? I can stand here all day and call you whatever I feel like and there ain't _nothing _you can do about it! Hahahah! Hahahaha-_ack!_"

The metal jug stuck to his face from the force of the impact, peeling off and spilling across the floor a second later. Toph held her throwing arm out, scorning, "I can hear you from the other side of the ship, you dweeb."

Sokka was not terribly amused, and shut the door after himself without another word. Toph relaxed her arm and leaned on the bed post. In his half-vegetative state, Aang wasn't too sure, but he could swear Toph was blushing. Thinking about the whole scene from afar, and the people in it, he couldn't stop himself from bursting out laughing. Toph's brow screwed tightly as the laughter mixed in with a fresh bout of coughing. Aang had to stop to get his breath back, but fresh laughing wasn't too far from the surface. He beat his chest to get everything out, "okay...heheh...it's okay...I'm okay...heheheheh.."

"What's so funny?" Toph wondered, utterly confused.

"Nothing, nothing...it's..." Aang chuckled slightly and wiped a tear from his eye, "...I think you got a crush."

"_What!?_" Toph leaned over the bedpost, turning her head this way and that as tried to get her head around what Aang just said, "...whuh...uh...uhmwuh..._what!?_"

"There, just proved it!" Aang smiled triumphantly, "you got a crush on Sokka."

Toph gawped at Aang, "that's...that's the dumbest...stupidest...most disgusting thing I ever heard. Ever! I mean...where did this come from!? I don't have a crush on Sokka! That's retarded!"

"Your face looks redder than the nose of a spiral monkey," Aang stated smugly.

"Gee, I don't know what your face looks like, but if you don't shut up I'm gonna make sure _nobody _knows!" Toph threatened, "_I don't have a crush on Sokka! _He's the most stuck-up, nosy, pompous, arrogant jerk I ever met! I hate him! I mean...didn't you _see _me throw that jug in his face!? Isn't it obvious!?"

"Oh yeah, it's obvious," Aang felt a need to stroke his chin, "you can call it _too _obvious."

"I don't...get...the logic!" Toph clutched her head, "Aang, you're a monk! A naïve, simple-minded, carefree...kinda whiny lately...monk! You got no idea how this stuff works!"

"Actually, it's been something I've noticed for a while," Aang said half-seriously, "when I was trying to master the Avatar State the Guru told me that I should let go of my attachments, get away from what connects me to the world...stuff like that. I used to find it hard, but now it's become kinda easy, since...y'know..._dying _kinda makes you step back a bit and look at things a different way. You know what I mean?"

"I don't know, I haven't died yet," Toph shrugged.

"Eheh...good point," Aang smiled, "well...it's kinda like...I see things from a distance, you know? See how things join together, people, friendships, love, all that stuff. How we act around each other and what we say and do and what it really means."

Toph walked around the bed-post and jumped up to plant herself on the side of of the bed, arms stretched behind her, "and...what's that got to do with crushes?"

"Just something I noticed," Aang shrugged, "when you feel for someone...I mean _really _feel for someone...you just can't act normal around them. You either act like you love them, if you're honest with yourself, or you act like you hate them, if you're embarrassed or don't want to admit it or try to hide it or...whatever. You can't act like you're just ambivalent or disinterested, the emotions are too high. If they're sweet and charming, you act like you hate them because you don't want to admit it. If they do the smallest thing wrong, you really do hate them, blindly, without remorse, because it feels like such a betrayal."

"So the right answer is that I don't think anything of Sokka whatsoever?" Toph asked, "what if he _is_ being a jerk? Can I call him a jerk then?"

"Call him whatever you want. It's your life! But the emotions never lie!" Aang shifted over to his side to rest better. He'd been holding on to a smile for much of the conversation, but as his eyes rested on the far wall it gradually left his face, as he contemplated why he had paid attention to these things in the first place, "that's why Katara doesn't love me."

Toph's head jerked slightly backwards at the sudden 180 in the discussion, "woah! Leaping much!? What gave you that idea?"

"Think about it..." Aang leant up again, "in all the time you've known, have you ever seen her yell at me? At all? Get flustered with something I've done? Anything like that?"

"Uh...not really..." Toph considered, "but she really cares about you. Almost in a creepy way. She goes wayyyy overboard trying to deal with your whiny self."

"I'm not whiny..." Aang complained.

"Then what's with the self-pity?" Toph pointed out, "C'mon, Dead-Weight! She _obsesses_ about you! She spends her every waking moment caring for you."

"Sure, when there's something wrong with me," Aang continued, "when I'm okay, it's like I'm not important anymore. She loves me as a son, a geeky little brother, as the great hope for the world and all that stuff. She loves me as family. But she doesn't _love_ me. I'd had such a huge crush on her ever since I woke in her arms in the South Pole that I never noticed that crush wasn't coming back."

"Big deal!" Toph thrust her arms apart, "love ain't this twinkly thing that comes from the sky y'know! You have a crush on Sugar Queen...I know _that _much, your heart starts playing the banjo every time you _look_ at her...so now you're down because you've figured out she's not getting handed to you on a plate. Does she even _know_ you have a crush on her?"

"...I...I _think _so..." Aang wondered, "I think we kissed once..."

"You think?" Toph mocked, "what? You're _not sure_? You have this great and wise insight into the ways of _lurrrve_ and you don't even know if you kissed a girl or not?"

"It...it was dark!" Aang countered, "I don't know what I felt...uh...I mean...wait a minute...what _is _it with you anyway!? I didn't ask you for advice!"

"No, you _kindly volunteered _your own stupid advice, so I thought I'd advise you to stop being pathetic and stand up for yourself!" Toph shouted.

"You don't know any more than I d- _hurk_!" Aang shouted animatedly, bringing himself out into a series of debilitating coughs. Toph just sat there, too angry to help.

"Yeah...that's right...kill your lungs from talking crud," Toph nodded sagely, "see how much I'm not leaping over and coddling you like a big baby."

Aang looked up from his coughing position evilly, "you...I...you little...guh...egh..._shut up!"_

"Advantage: mine," Toph remarked smarmily. Reflecting on what Aang had said before, her cheeky smile faded as she voiced her thoughts out loud, "wait...if acting like you hate someone means that you love them...doesn't that mean we have a crush on each other?"

Aang and Toph considered the proposition together, and after due thought began to panic like they'd never panicked before. Aang flailed, "ah! Ah! Ah! Uhhh...I consider you a good friend and a valuable asset! You've been very helpful, a good...uhhhh..._colleague_! Yeah! Good, friendly colleague Toph!"

"Yeah!" Toph gripped the bed fiercely as her head buzzed through several possibilities at once, "annnd...you're also a valuable colleague and a very dear..."

"'Dear's' too cozy! '_Dear's' too cozy!_" Aang warned loudly.

"Not dear! Not dear!" Toph thought hard, "uhhhmmm...a veryyyy _nice_ uhh..._associate_! Yes! A very important person for world-saving things for which I am glad to volunteer some effort until other commitments come along!"

"Of course!" Aang's eyes swiveled wildly, "and I'm happy you are one of a _number _of volunteers who want to help save the world! We're a nice group of friends who do friend-type things...as a group! So we can do what we like because we appreciate each other as free, single, _single_, individuals!"

"Absolutely!" Toph's breath was getting away from her, "after all, just being friends and everything! We can argue sometimes, but all in good fun! Because we have no strong feelings about each other _whatsoever_!"

Feeling they'd done enough, Aang and Toph sank down in a huge sigh of relief, having avoided something that could have been horribly embarrassing. Chipperly, Toph jumped off the bed and gathered up the metal plate at the foot of the bedpost.

"Well, time for me to try this thing out!" Toph decided, kneeling crossed-legged on the floor in front of the plate, "now don't bother me, Dead-Weight, I need to concentrate."

"...that's okay..." Aang mewed. The effort of avoiding a crush on Toph had been rather exhausting, and he turned himself back to one side the drag the blanket up, "...I won't be any trouble...you can concentrate on your metal..."

"Thanks for your permission," Toph would've rolled her eyes if it meant anything to her, "just to warn you, if you do need the bathroom, I ain't moving a muscle."

"...alright...don't need...bathroom..." Aang's eyes drooped shut, "...just...need...sleep..."

The conspicuous silence in the room alerted Toph, and she turned her head to hear better. The blind girl briefly worried about whether he had 'phased out' again. She couldn't tell without sensing his heartbeat, which was impossible in this room. "Hey, Dead-Weight," Toph called, "Dead-Weight! Aang! You okay!?"

A few terrifying seconds passed, and Toph was almost certain he was drifting off again, until a monstrous sound ripped through the air. Aang's eyes were closed, but his mouth was wide open, complete with tongue flopping out. Feeling put upon, Toph turned back from the bed and placed a hand on the plate before her, muttering, "since when did he snore?"

* * *

Colonel Mongke had been wondering whether he'd need to ask for directions, since Nagaoka was a sprawling mess of a city while _The Digie Den _didn't sound like an establishment that readily advertised itself, and on top of that his method for asking people things didn't involve so much asking as holding flickering flames underneath people's nostrils and daring them to sneeze. But he needn't have worried. The large parade of faceless, red-helmeted Royal Guard was something of a giveaway as to where he was supposed to go.

The parade ended at a set of steps that led down to the basement of a large, multi-storey building, along a side-street that was infrequently travelled. Down the stairs was a dinky little metal door with a slider at eye-level, and on the wall next to it was the calligraphy '_The Dijie Den_' with a handy little arrow pointing inside, just to make it all the clearer. Mongke hesitated to walk down, but he wasn't afraid in the least. Just irritated that he had to take valuable time out of the day to do this. So long as he got a good drink, he'd be happy. And if this was a trap and dozens of armed soldiers poured out of the woodwork to capture him, quite frankly he was looking forward to it...anything to break the monotony of working with Zuko.

Mongke huffed once he made his decision, ruffling his nose ring, and stepped down to knock on the rusty door. The slider flew open, and a pair of bloodshot, paranoid eyes stared back at him. The man at the door spoke deeply, but fretfully, like an ox-hippo on amphetamines, "we're closed! You can't come in! We're fumigating! Go away! Get lost!"

"Hey, I got a note telling me to come to this dump," Mongke held the origami-message up to the hole in the door, and the man's eyes widened in fright.

"Ack! Ehh...come right in! Come right in! We're open for business for you and your guest!" the slider flew shut, and a vast number of bolts and locks began springing from the other side.

"Guest?" Mongke asked to the closed door, shortly before the metal thing creaked open. Beyond it was a dingy little place which seemed to have been rapidly cleaned up in the last few minutes. It was small and cozy, dark except for a small filter of red light, and Mongke could smell from the air that around this time it'd usually be musty and smoky as well, and of course full of men having a good time away from the missus (or full of women having a good time away from the factory boss...there were a suprising number of those places, and even more surprisingly they tended to be just as rowdy. How the soldier came to know of this was a secret he would take to his dying day). But now it was deserted save for six utterly silent Royal Guards standing to attention in front of the pews that clung the walls of the Den.

Everything was sending him towards the bar at the far end of the Den, with several free stools to sit on and a bartender that had just ran to a complete stop, picked up a glass and started cleaning as if nothing had happened. With nothing better to do, the Colonel stepped forward and seated himself on one of the stools, resting his arms on the bar. The bartender was a man slightly older than him, bald-headed except for a long pony-tail and pudgy-faced besides, sweating bucketloads even as he kept up an incredibly artificial smile. He blurted out the question, "what'll it be!?"

Mongke looked up and blinked wearily, "since ye're serving, I guess I'll have a glass of seishu."

"Will that be 'Spirit of the Fire Lord' Seishu or 'Nectar of the One True Element' Seishu!?" the bartender asked a little too eagerly, clearly uncomfortable with asking it but just as clearly scared out of his wits that something bad would happen to him if he didn't ask it.

The Colonel was tired of these games, "just...give me a seishu..."

"I'll have a glass of Lychii & Bin Jun Juice," a young confident female voice ordered from behind Mongke, as the woman who ordered the drink sat down on the stool nearest the Colonel. The bartender let out a gurgled squeal and set to work making drinks as fast as humanly possible. Mongke looked aside and saw Azula leaning over without facing him, looking comfortable and speaking conversationally, "you shouldn't drink alcohol, it isn't good for your constitution at all."

The bartender had almost instantly poured the drinks, which was something of an achievement since he needed to mix the Lychii Juice and Bin Jun Juice on the spot, and slammed them onto the bar. He smiled, held his hands together and prayed quietly to the god who watched over his bar that she hadn't forsaken him and gone off with some other bar. Both Mongke and Azula pulled their drinks towards themselves, and Azula took a decent swig of her juice. Mongke didn't drink, but just held his glass by the rim and watched the Fire Princess with an etched frown. Azula put her drink down and mimicked Mongke's way of holding it, smiling at the career soldier. Their gazes were locked in a battle of wills for quite some time. _The Dijie Den _was deathly quiet, except for the nervous glass-cleaning the bartender was engaged in. The Colonel was finding the silence suffocating.

"Okay, Your Highness, I'll bite," Mongke began, "what do you want?"

"To have a bar chat," Azula spoke as cheerfully as she seemed capable of, which still had an icy gloss to it. Mongke glanced around.

"Yes, I can see that," the Colonel fixed his stare, "but...why?"

"I didn't realise I needed an excuse," Azula sipped her drink flippantly, "I was under the impression that having bar chats was a soldier's favourite part of the day. I don't believe I'm mistaken?"

"No, not at all, Your Highness," Mongke corrected the Fire Princess, "'cept last time I been to a bar chat, there were more than just two soldiers and we didn't have a whole parade standing to attention while we drank."

"Hmm...you have a point," Azula considered, glancing behind herself, "Guards? Stand watch outside until I say otherwise." The six Royal Guards bowed in reverence and quickly exited the Den. Azula faced the bartender and spoke without a single change in tone, "and that goes for you too."

"Yes, Your Highness!" the bartender bowed gratefully, walking tensely and slowly behind the bar until the Fire Princess was out of sight before launching into as fast a run as his legs could manage away from her. Azula took another sip. Now the deathly quiet really was deathly quiet.

"I want us to have a little chat. A calm, casual chat about your priorities," Azula's tone never changed, but the menace behind it was crushing, "when talking about something as crucial as your choices in life, it's always best to be comfortable, isn't it?"

"You mean I have a choice?" Mongke felt the need for his first sip of seishu.

"No one ever has a choice, Colonel," Azula revealed her point of view, "they might pretend that they do, but really they don't. Their very biological make-up forces them into decisions. Their minds and bodies the product of an endless chain of cause and effect. Choice is an illusion, a simple matter of feeling yourself to be dominant. It's a product of a time when everything was uncertain, when the world was kept in a miserable, tepid, degenerate equilibrium, when the weak were allowed to multiply and the strong were allowed to whither on the vine. Now the Avatar is dead, we can finally begin the long overdue process of whittling down humanity to those who are superior, and discarding those who are redundant. Which would you rather be?"

"No marks for guessing which one you think _you _are, then," Mongke took another sip of his drink. As he studied the glass he hoped the seishu was on the house, "sucks for me if I'm one of those getting extinct, ain't it?"

"You know and I know that you're worth more than the worms who make up most of mankind," the Princess announced, "or would you prefer being in the company of that bartender over there?"

"Where are you going with this?" Mongke asked, setting aside his drink for a moment.

"I'm simply asking, as a favour, that when the time comes for you to show your loyalty, your choice reflects your privileged place in the greater scheme of humanity," Azula coolly sipped her juice, "and until that time, while serving under someone who's less than you, you just keep that scheme in mind."

The soldier twisted the words around in his head in an effort to get them to make sense. But he realised that all he needed to do was consider the conniving little sneak who was saying them, and it all slid beautifully into place. He nodded sagely, "aaaah...I see. You want me to spy on your brother for you."

"I admire your bluntness. It's very refreshing," Azula smirked, "and I can admire your perception of things. You know who your superiors really are, and you know Zuko isn't one of them."

"Ech, I'm not that smart. And ye're forgetting one thing, Your Highness," Mongke swivelled his glass around in thought, "I'm a soldier. When I said I don't do political hijinks, I meant it. I don't fight people's petty squabbles. I fight wars. It's the one thing I do best. Nothing else."

"I'm not so sure about that," Azula observed, "I've heard some impressive accounts of your solo performance in 'Story of the Red Snake'."

What irritated Mongke the most was that he couldn't bite back at the Fire Lord's only daughter, so he just took the half-complement as it came, "very well, Your Highness, I can fight wars and play the lead in operas, but that don't change anything. It's not my place to get involved in matters of the Royal Family. Whatever 'greater scheme of humanity' you've found, that just goes 'swoosh' over me."

Mongke flew a hand over his head to emphasise the point, settling down to take another drink. He continued, "if you want me to spy on Zuko, you gotta give me a better incentive than 'because you're better than him'. Sure, I don't like Zuko that much. He's arrogant, short-tempered, rude, inconsiderate, he's terrible, _terrible _conversation, as lively as a snail-sloth and has about as much personality, but...how can I put this diplomatically?" Mongke looked up in consideration, pausing, then he slammed his drink down and turned to face Azula, "_I don't think you're much of an improvement._"

Azula wasn't amused in the least, and said simply, "I did warn you against drinking alcohol. A loosened tongue could be _fatal_."

"Hasn't killed me yet," Mongke held his glass aloft, grinning deviously, "and something tells me I've still got long years ahead of me. You want to know why, Your Highness? Because I'm not just following Zuko. I'm following the orders of an authority even higher than you. The decree of the great and mighty descendent of Agni, the bearer of the Sun Spirit, the light of our Nation etc. etc. The Lord of you and I has proclaimed that Iroh must be found, that Zuko be the one who finds him, and that he either does or faces the ultimate punishment. And that means anyone who _gets in his way _faces the ultimate punishment too. No exceptions. Not even for a Princess."

"How does his fate matter to you?" Azula implored, "the leader of the Rough Rhinos couldn't possibly feel himself beholden to the whims of a pathetic, rudderless inferior."

"I don't, but I remember Your Highness saying something about choices?" the Colonel looked down into the smooth liquid swishing about in his glass, "this isn't the Earth Kingdom, where we can get away with stuff that'd make anyone 'cept you shake in horror. This is the Fire Nation. The centre of the world. I get killed here, those Guards will know, that bartender will know, my friends will know, everyone in the city would know, and soon the Fire Lord would know, and he'd be looking for a damned good excuse why one of his most trusted commanders was lured to a basement and burnt to a crisp while looking for his treacherous older brother."

"I remember _you _saying something about not getting involved in political hijinks," Azula toyed with the rim of her glass, "reconsidering your opinion?"

"Nope," Mongke brought the seishu to his lips and flung his head back, swigging the rest of the alcohol in one gulp. The Colonel slammed the glass back on the table and stood up off of the stool, marching away from Azula without a second glance, "which is why I'm getting out right now, and you're not gonna do a thing to stop me."

Mongke continued to march away, expecting to receive some sharp and brutal put-down from the Princess behind him. But it never came. Immensely puzzled, the soldier's march ground to a halt, and he felt compelled to turn around to see what Azula was doing. She hadn't budged from her stool, and just seemed to nurse her drink as if nothing had happened. He could see a smile in the corner of her mouth. This wasn't what he was expecting at all.

"You're...really not gonna do a thing to stop me?" the soldier asked in all honesty. His abrasiveness against the daughter of the Fire Lord was well over the line as it was, and that she wasn't doing a thing about it was troubling. She took another sip of juice and looked aside at Mongke.

"What's the need? All we're having is a friendly little bar chat," Azula stated. Mongke, deciding to leave the matter unresolved, nodded politely and turned to leave. It was then that Azula finally piped up, "just...one question, Colonel." Mongke paused. The Fire Princess asked, "you seem so contemptuous towards the Fire Nation. Its leadership, its principles, its citizenry and its way of life. And yet you soldier on. Why do you keep fighting when you don't believe in what you're fighting for?"

Mongke considered his answer carefully, turning his eyes away in thought, "I could have stopped fighting, once. I could have put up my uniform, returned to my mining village in the north, lived a normal life just staying with my folks and doing normal, everyday things." Mongke's decisive eyes met Azula's, "but when you're looking in the face of an eight-year-old child after you've killed everyone he's ever held dear...you realise you can't ever go back. Normality is for other people. I've left it far behind."

Azula's smile widened, and she turned fully towards Mongke. "I wasn't being flippant when I said I admire your honesty," Azula revealed, "good luck in your future endeavours, Colonel Mongke."

"Your Highness," the Colonel nodded slightly more reverentially, and turned again to march out the door into the bright daylight outside. In the dark, dreary silence of _The Dijie Den_, Azula didn't budge from her position or her wide smile, looking immensely pleased that the conversation went the way it did. The door slammed shut, and she leaned her head back to take the last sip of the juice.

While she was drinking, out of nowhere emerged the long-faced assassin from the darkness of the Den, standing to Azula's left. From above, the wide-faced acrobat dropped from the ceiling with a twirl, steadying herself to Azula's right. They both looked ahead at the closed door, and Azula resumed her cold smile as soon as the last of the juice was drunk, placing the empty glass on the bar behind her with a small tap, purring "you know what to do."

* * *

Katara's hand sprung up to shade her eyes from the brilliant sun. It was the first time in nearly twenty-four hours that she had seen daylight. It seemed so bizarre. How can something so terrible happen on a beautiful day like this?

The siblings had travelled onto the Upper Deck of the _Gang Shen_. It had two layers to it, consisting of the wide deck itself that held the sun beds and ball gaming sections, and an upper observation deck shaped like an oval that raised off of the deck itself and was accessible via several stairways. Inside the oval was a range of various facilities and shops, including a small sparring gym with several scorch marks around the door. It had everything a tourist needed to have a comfortable, relaxing trip, and the watermark of the Hong Yu Guo Service was plastered next to every sign.

Katara looked around at the sun-drenched deck, the adults getting their fill of the early afternoon sunlight, the 5 children having the square between the oval and the con tower all to themselves and making the most of it, hearing the roar of the prow slicing through the waves, and feeling the still, blue ocean that surrounded them. The Waterbender leaned back against the side of the hull and closed her eyes, feeling the breeze cool her skin. In all this time she hadn't had the chance to relax.

"Kat...ugh...Ursa!" Sokka called back to her, having realised he'd been walking on his own for some time. Katara snapped out of her exhaustion and looked at the Water Warrior, while he remarked sternly, "what are you doing? We need to concentrate!"

"Oh...sorry..." Katara wiped her brow, "I'm just tired, that's all. You're right, we do need to concentrate."

"You got that right," Sokka marched forward, and Katara dutifully followed alongside, "if we want to get to the bottom of all this, we need to keep our mind on _nothing _except weird, out-of-the-ordinary things. We can't afford to be distracted by..." Sokka's head spun aside and dragged the rest of his body back with it as he read the sign next to a wide-open door inside the oval, "ooooh! Professional masseurs...relaxing and recharging massages for arms, legs, hands, feet and back, only 10 Shu and 1 Luxury Item ration a pop..."

"Sure. Can't afford to be distracted by that, can we?" Katara crossed her arms moodily at Sokka's hungry clamouring for special treats.

"But...but..." Sokka whined, "with a nice, refreshing massage, we can concentrate _better_! You said you were tired..."

"Yes, I am, and the idea of being groped by a complete stranger while lives are at stake is just making me _more _tired," Katara pointed out, "maybe we can talk to the people up here? Except...what are we supposed to _ask_, anyway? 'Have you noticed any white-masked spirits _stealing your soul _lately'? I don't think we're going to get very far, somehow."

"If we go in there we can ask while they're too relaxed from easing their muscles," Sokka pointed hopefully towards the massage parlour, "catch 'em at their most vulnerable 'n all."

"Will you stop being so hung up on that stupid massage parlour!?" Katara boiled over, "why do you want one so bad, anyway!?"

"A healthy body means a healthy mind," Sokka spurned, feeling no need to explain himself, "as the brains of the outfit I want my head to be _alert _and at _peak efficiency_!"

"Look out!" yelled a titchy voice from down the deck. Sokka had enough time to turn and mutter a 'mwuh?' before a leather ball hit him square in the face. The robust and experienced warrior yelled loudly and clamped his hands to his nose, sprawling out over the deck in pain. The rotund child who threw it waddled forward to reclaim the thrown object, and shrank before Sokka's evil stare, "uh...sorry mister..."

"It had to be _you_, didn't it?" Sokka lay prone on the deck and stared down the child. He was soon joined by another child, a round-faced girl with her hair rolled up into pig-tails. She looked at the boy and nudged the scared boy.

"Hey, Tai...that the one you told us about?" she whispered loudly, "the one talkin' to the moon?"

"Uh...yeah, Niu, I think he was..." Tai stepped back to look Sokka over more clearly. Sokka leapt up to his feet in embarrassment. Katara was raising an eyebrow, and he wanted to defend himself.

"What!? What are you talking about? Don't make stuff up you know nothing 'bout, kid!" Sokka held his arm forward to point, but in bringing his hands away from his face he inadvertently allowed a dribble of blood to escape his nose. His hands slapped back onto his face in fright, but the damage was done as Niu immediately burst out laughing.

"Suuure, whatever ye say, _moooon-lover_!" Niu teased. Tai was sniggering along as well, and Sokka was getting into a panic. His reputation was at stake! Thinking quickly, he snatched the ball out of Tai's surprised hands and chucked it as far as he could towards the con tower.

"_Go long!_" he shouted.

"Hey!" Niu complained, as she and Tai ran after the ball. Beside him, Sokka could see that Katara had hands on hips in scepticism, but was still smiling knowingly at this evidence of Sokka's willingness to believe in the superstitious nonsense he was always belittling everyone else for. Sokka held his arms apart and grinned in an attempt to play down the incident.

"Heheh...kids these days!" Sokka spoke jokingly. Peering down at his own nose-bleed, he hurriedly pinched his nostrils with one hand while still holding out the other. It was in this embarrassing position that a small squad of four Fire Militia abruptly appeared around the corner of the oval and marched up to them. The Water Tribe sibling's blood froze out of fear of discovery.

"Hello, there," the young officer in charge of the squad walked up and waved a friendly hello, "sorry to bother you, but we're looking for information on a young boy, around 11 years of age, thin build with brown hair. You haven't seen anyone like that in the last six hours, have you?"

The squad of Militia, wielding pikes except for the officer and looking menacing in spite of their friendliness, waited expectantly for a response. Sokka peered to Katara, who peered back at Sokka. If they were talking about Nandi, that was bad. If they were talking about Aang, that was really, _really_ bad. Being set upon by a group of Fire Nation soldiers was unnerving for any member of the Water Tribe, and coupled with the surprise at their appearance and the awkwardness of Sokka's position, made them stand stock still in nervousness. Realising that they were taking too long was just making their nervousness worse. Finally, out of desperation, Sokka blurted out, "sorry! Can't help you! We only just came up on deck! Ehhh...bad case of sea-sickness! Needed to lie down! Haven't seen anybody! Nope!"

The fresh-faced officer might have taken to the long pause and hurried reply with suspicion, but as it was he had to strangle a guffaw at Sokka's nasal voice and try hard to retain a veneer of professionalism, "is...something wrong with your nose?"

"...nosebleed," Sokka answered curtly.

"And...your hair?" the officer asked.

"...lice," the Warrior responded.

The officer shook his head in pity, "you poor soul..."

"This boy...what's his name?" Katara jumped into the conversation once the danger had passed, "maybe we can help?"

"It's nothing to worry about, we have it under control..." the officer began.

"Nandi..." a strained voice piped up behind the squad, and the Militia felt obliged to step aside to let through the determined, slender young woman. Kyo was trying hard to keep herself under control, and succeeding admirably, taking command of the questioning, stepping up to Sokka, "you saw him this morning, only a minute before he disappeared. I remember you. You and your friend. Nandi's friend. Please, tell me you saw him. Tell me you've seen my boy."

Faced with this fraught, distressed mother, Sokka mellowed. He couldn't wisecrack or just cover his tracks. But what could he say? He couldn't tell her the truth. Even if it didn't bring the wrath of the militia upon them all, he couldn't bring himself to tell this woman that her son was lying inside a vault in the Coolant Room. But lying felt wrong too. He glanced at Katara for guidance, but she was as lost as he was. Sokka took his hand away from his nose and hoped a good response would come to him.

"I..." Sokka stopped abruptly as more blood dribbled out of his nose. He slapped his hand back and felt ashamed of himself.

"Oh for goodness' sake..." Kyo pulled a napkin from her pocket and grabbed Sokka's hand, pulling it away to dab Sokka's bleeding nose with her fingers, "here...this'll clean you up."

After a few dabs, Sokka felt like his nostrils could breathe again. He blushed with embarrassment, "thanks..." and he added skittishly "but...I'm sorry. I don't know any more than you do."

Kyo stepped away, putting the napkin away, and nodded once in recognition. She smiled weakly, "at least I know someone cares."

Sokka's smile back came naturally. He looked aside at Katara, who was keeping up a smile in return, then abruptly turned away and crossed her arms crossly. What was she thinking? Of more interest was the officer turning up towards the sky and shrugging. Sokka followed the shrug and found that it was directed at the top of the con tower, where a serious-looking female officer, probably the Captain, leaned over the railings to watch the search in progress. She didn't seem happy at the lack of it.

By the time Sokka's eyes had returned to eye level, the search party had moved on to the nearest adult, apart from the officer, who gave the disguised Water Tribesman a condescending glance before moving on. Sokka experienced a sinking feeling when he realised what he was giving a glance for. He'd said he hadn't seen Nandi because of seasickness when he obviously had done. Curse him and his big mouth. The officer made clear that he'd come back for him, and turned to the overly large woman flapping pieces of clothing over the side of the ship and hanging them back on the railing. He asked "excuse me, ma'am? Sorry to bother you. We're looking for a...what are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" the woman didn't give the officer the slightest bit of attention, "I'm drying out my daughter's clothes after they got soaked last night...aaaand this morning...aaaand just a few minutes ago. Don't ask me how, but the little sneak just keeps gettin' 'em wet. An' that joke ye call a laundry room ain't gettin' any cheaper."

"Well why didn't you say so!?" a smiling entrepreneur asked loudly. Sokka gave a small shriek as Xuan appeared right behind him without any warning whatsoever, making a bee-line for the woman along with two lovely, smartly-dressed assistants. The sly middle-aged man took one of the woman's hands and kissed it lightly, imploring her, "it would be an _honour _to bequeath to you one of our all-inclusive laundry tokens. Anything to make your journey with the Hong Yu Guo Service that much more comfortable!"

The woman looked down at the man in mild disgust, and snapped her hand away, instinctively wiping it against her shirt. She muttered, "er...thanks...I guess."

"_Anyway_," the officer interrupted the little exchange to ask, "have you seen a small boy? Aged around 11? Brown-haired? A little thin?"

"Aw, heck, they all look alike ta me," the woman took to collecting up the wet clothes, "small 'n smarmy 'n soaking wet. Th' lot of them."

The exchange moved into other territory, a back and forth seeking more info, with Kyo close to pleading for any scrap of knowledge, and Xuan trying increasingly desperate means to distract her from anything being amiss. The kids behind him kept playing loudly in complete ignorance of the conversation, but something had dislodged in Sokka's mind. A small piece of conversation he'd overlooked until now. Soaking wet. Something about last night and getting soaking wet. Clothes needing dried. Being with other kids. As it came together, the 'ding' in the Warrior's head was almost audible.

"Hold on!" Sokka cried out, attracting everyone's attention, "you said that Nandi had gotten wet from standing on the prow at night with the other kids, right?" Kyo nodded. Sokka continued, "and your kid got wet the same way, right?" The woman, befuddled as she was, nodded slowly. Sokka concluded, "then maybe those kids know something! Maybe this is all connected somehow! Where's your daughter now?"

The woman, considering Sokka's insight, stood back for a moment. The officer looked Sokka over and mentally took him off the suspects list, somewhat impressed with his investigative skills. The woman shrugged and pointed past Sokka, "okay, she's right...over..."

All eyes turned and saw an empty deck behind Sokka. Where the five kids had been playing before, now there was nothing but a few lonesome puddles of water. They'd all heard the children playing just seconds ago. There couldn't possibly have been enough time for them to disappear, and they all realised that. Sokka and Katara's faces fell, knowing what was going on. Above, the Captain leaned over and peered closely at the empty deck. She didn't see them leave either.

"Maybe...they just went inside?" Xuan spoke hopefully.

"I told her to stay where I could see her..." the woman rushed forward, looking frantically from side to side and calling "Ya! Ya, where are you!?"

Kyo was trembling and shaking her head, her hands rubbing each other in a futile effort to calm herself, shuddering "not again...please, not again..."

"Spread out!" the officer commanded loudly enough for everyone on-deck to hear, marching forward as he called his orders, "find them! Now!"

Captain Mayu had seen enough, and pushed her hands off of the railings as she ran off the balcony and back into the con tower. Sokka dragged Katara along, imploring "c'mon! We have to tell Wan!"

Everyone was running, except for Xuan, stuck to the spot in a state of shock. His victory was slipping away from him as he breathed. Those pools of water on the deck could soon be the liquefied remains of his reputation if he didn't do something drastic, and fast. His lovely assistants stood dim-wittedly beside him, wondering exactly what was going on. He smiled a freakish smile and placed his hands on his assistants shoulders, "'scuse me ladies, but Papa Xuan needs to sort out something pronto. Be right back!"

Xuan legged it towards the con tower, disappearing inside before his assistants had the chance to react. One of them huffed, "I gave up Aqueduct Engineering at the Academy for _this_?"

"Right with you, sister," the other assistant chimed.

Mask-faces watched the rigmarole from under the waves, distanced from the petty whims of the little people on board. They were sharper than typical, but none of that would matter. There was nothing that could stop. Soon, very soon, they'd have their children back. And the Avatar would pay the consequences for breaking their promise.

**To Be Continued…**

**_Avatar: The Last Airbender _**Concept and Characters © Nickelodeon 2005-06

* * *

**Author's Note: **I keep saying I'll update more regularly, and I never do. What does that say about me? I apologise for having this turgid, overblown offering to give to you. A lot of it has been swishing around my head for months, waiting to be put to page, while everything else is ill-conceived, leaden humour, convoluted melodrama and pointless, POINTLESS exposition. Gragh! I think I'm getting worse. And longer. Definitely longer. I'm going to have to cut down on the size of these chapters if I want to keep myself sane. There's enough stuff in here to fill three whole parts, and it just keeps gooooiiiiing. I need to speed up drastically to keep MY interest, let alone yours. Self-loathing. SELF-LOATHING!

I'm just going to have to be resigned to the face that updates will come at a snail's pace. I was on holiday at my parents' if that's any excuse, and I'm writing on my fancy new laptop now, having managed to claw my way through the second half of this chapter over the course of three days. The Chapter 4 of Book 3 is going to have to be a lot more streamlined to keep me going. The next 'episode' is already looking more light-hearted and fun than this sub-Hitchcockian nonsense (further evidence that M. Night Shyamalan is a baaaaad idea, considering this material).

Haha...I make in-joke. Rimshot plz... COLLAPSE


	7. Martial Law

"Lieutenant Tan!" Captain Mayu walked onto the bridge and barked loudly to wake the third-in-command up. Tan cut a wearier figure than the young, baby-faced Lieutenant Yin, but he was just as capable, if prone to cutting remarks. Tan jolted out of his seat and planted his feet away from the desk he was resting them on and firmly onto the ground. The bridge, flanked in all corners by crew members whose backs were turned, busy with their tasks, briefly looked around to see what the Captain was up to before turning back to the job at hand.

"Ma'am!" Tan affirmed, shortly before correcting a momentary sway and blinking hard on his eye-lids. Mayu had pulled him off of his shift break to cover for Yin, just when he was getting used to sleeping and working in six-hour stints. Mayu had bigger things to worry about.

"I want every member of the crew not currently on vital ship-running duties _in here _in ten minutes, understand?" Mayu shunted a pile of debris off of the navigation desk and pulled over a large map of the area, grabbing a stick of charcoal in the process, bringing over a blank piece of paper and scribbling furiously on it, her eyes snapping back and forth, "bring in the Hong Yu Guo staff members if you have to. Every active member of this ship's command crew is receiving new orders."

"But...Captain...Yin isn't even back yet," Tan protested, "shouldn't we wait until his report on the missing kid before going on an emergency."

"Missing kid_s_. There's more than one," Mayu leaned up to a high shelf to drag down a secure, ornately decorated, metal box. She pulled a key out of her pocket and slotted it into the dragon-motifed box, "once is a tragedy and twice is coincidence. Six times? Six times and the ship's in danger."

"Yes, ma'am?" Tan was all ears. The box opened with a click to reveal a series of scrolls with seals classifying them 'By Order of the Fire Lord's Admiralty'.

"Only available to those with the rank of Captain or over," Mayu indicated to the scroll she was picking up out of the box, "this is the summary of witness statements of the attacks on the Mo Ce Sea."

"We're under attack?" Tan asked to clarify.

"Very possibly," Mayu unfurled the scroll to read, "one survivor said 'they came for the children first. We didn't know, but they became something else. Something evil. Once they disappeared, people started dying. The death masks rose from the waves to devour us...' You can tell why we thought they were barking mad. They've all been sent to the Yantai Institute for further study. But _all_ the accounts are like this. And if that stuff's happening here, now, then we are in serious trouble."

"You want us to put the ship under lockdown?" Tan asked to clarify.

"I should've put this ship under lockdown the first moment trouble arose," Mayu cursed herself, shunting the metal box to one side and scribbling furiously on the blank sheet, "I want this...priority command...to be given to everyone on-board, Lieutenant Yin included, and remain in effect until we reach dock. All civilians shall remain in their compartments until further notice, and once back in their rooms the full passenger complement will be counted and catalogued. Anyone unaccounted for will be searched for. Every crew member will operate in teams to secure designated parts of the ship and remain in contact with each other at all times. _Everyone _must be kept informed."

"Yes, ma'am," Tan confirmed, "what should I say over the announcer? They'll want to know why their trip's been curtailed..."

"Tell them the truth. They'll panic if they think we're hiding something from them," Mayu flung the order sheet she'd written in Tan's direction and leaned over the map beneath the detritus piled up on the navigation table, "where's the nearest port?"

"We're..." Tan bundled up the order and shuffled over to the map, indicating their current position, "we're past the halfway mark, in the middle of the Mo Ce Sea. There's nowhere else to turn to. That means it's Naha Island or bust."

"We need to get there as soon as possible," Mayu stood straight upright and turned assertively towards the Lieutenant, "have the engine room give us all the power it can muster. If nothing else we'll have a better chance in Fire Nation waters. Once that's complete, disseminate my orders. On the first sign of alarm, we'll evacuate the ship."

"Don't...you..._dare_, young lady!" the Hong Yu Guo Service administrator strode huffingly onto the bridge, barely pausing to catch his breath, pointing a crooked finger furiously at the Captain, all pretentions towards pleasant joviality vanished for good, "I knew it. I knew _all along _you were going to try something like this..."

"Please, sir," Mayu tweaked the crooked finger to one side, "the situation is getting out of hand. There is more than enough evidence to link our situation with the other attacks, and if that's the case we have to begin taking precautions..."

"_Precautions!?_" Xuan spat it like it was a dirty word, "a few kids are playing hide 'n seek! You're hideously overreacting!"

"Sir, it would be much more helpful if you could just co-operate with our concerns," Mayu appealed.

"I've been co-operating! I've been bending over backwards trying to accommodate your 'concerns'!" Xuan's eyes widened in exasperation, "it's perfectly possible to keep the ship safe and the customers happy and comfortable! The Hong Yu Guo Service has made its name balancing customer needs with logistical interests. I've built my career around keeping that balance. You're the one who doesn't want to accommodate! You say you wanted to get away from the front line, find a position to rest up and not have too many responsibilities. You _get _that position, and _immediately _try to usurp it! You don't want peace and quiet at all! You just want to call the shots!"

"This is not helpful in the least," Mayu crossed her arms, her patience wearing to snapping point, "and since you wish to lecture me on my place in the world, may I remind you that my highest prerogative is to do my duty to the Fire Nation and its citizens, to do whatever it takes to keep them protected and safe from harm. My authority to do so comes direct from the Fire Lord. It is complete and absolute. Your authority comes from being an administrator of a subsidiary of a National Corporation. Your remit doesn't extend beyond providing a service. And it certainly doesn't extend to treating your Service as a personal fiefdom with no regard to the lives of the people who use it beyond their ability to pay."

"You can't talk to me that way!" Xuan fumed so harshly he was close to exploding, "and I'll see to it you won't be talking to anyone else that way, Mayu! This is _my ship _you're on, and I say the ship stays at its current speed, the passengers stay untouched by your goons, and _you're _getting fired!"

There was a pause in the bridge's attention, a momentary gap where the crew members stopped what they were doing, sensing that something was happening to the _Gang Shen_'s power structure. An important crossroads had been reached, and one person in the room had the power to choose the path. Mayu, for the first time in months, felt herself smiling, "this is not your ship, Xuan, and it never was. The _Gang Shen _belongs to the Fire Lord, every nut and bolt of it, and you have been _allowed _to use it by kind permission of the military. On my authority as Captain I hereby _revoke_ that permission. Now if you would do me the kindness of confining yourself to your compartment, we can get on with our jobs."

"Big words coming from you, young lady," Xuan seethed, "Lieutenant! Don't you dare follow a word she says! And that goes for all of you! She's no longer your Captain!"

Tan briefly regarded the robed, desperate man and then studiously ignored him. The rest of the crew on-board the bridge didn't pay his words the slightest bit of attention. Tan wandered over to the navigation desk to look over the route they should take, "it'll be touch and go, but if the engine holds out we should be able to reach Naha just after midnight."

"Didn't you hear me, Lieutenant!? Or don't you like your job either!?" Xuan threatened.

"We'll need to signal a passing ship at some point," Mayu commented, looking over the map and diligently taking no notice of Xuan, "it would make our lives easier if we didn't have to deal with this alone."

"Shipping is giving the Mo Ce Sea a wide berth, mostly," Tan pointed at positions on the map, acting oblivious to Xuan's presence, "the bulk of the Fire Navy in this area is behind us, searching for the attackers near the coast. There isn't likely to be anything until we reach Fire Nation waters."

"I see, you were all planning this together, weren't you?" Xuan accused, "I can tell you, this isn't looking good for either of you! Think about it, once we get to shore, they'll be asking questions, and who are they going to listen to? The diligent and upstanding service provider with the trust and support of the Ministry of Transportation, or the conniving, seditious murmurings of you two thugs!?"

"Listen..._citizen_..." Mayu swerved around and sneered at the administrator, "you realise there is a way to settle this dispute right here and now, don't you?"

Xuan's anger subsided into quiet despair. He stood rooted to the spot, utterly stunned at how quickly and without fanfare his power had scattered into the wind without the slightest protest or resistance. "You can't challenge me to an Agni Kai..." Xuan mewed, "...I'd _die_."

Mayu looked over Xuan cooly, her glass-cut expression unblinking, "then you'd better run along, hadn't you?"

Mayu turned back to the map without checking for a confirmation. Xuan paused for some sign of a retraction, some form of bargain he could make to lessen this humiliation, but none was forthcoming. Nodding sullenly, he stumbled back out of the bridge, past the turned backs of the crew members, to whom he hadn't been anyone special to start with.

Lieutenant Tan, having calculated the results of what he was about to do, strode towards the engine command console and pushed the lever up as far as it could go, further than it had gone before, resting on the calligraphy for 'Flank Speed'.

* * *

"_Flank Speed!?_" Shui's draw dropped at the message that accompanied the ear-splitting ring that pierced the stuffy, boiling atmosphere of the engine room. Shui grabbed onto an overhanging pillar and hauled herself up, latching into a gap with her foot, in order to carry her voice further, "_Chief! Them guys upstairs wan' Flank-flippin'-Speed!_"

"They wants us at a crawl th'n they wants us ta be a firework with a rudder!" Wan complained through teeth gritted around his spanner, as he used both hands to jam together a burst pipe. Succeeding, he quickly wrenched the pipe into a seamless whole and sheathed his spanner, bellowing out to everyone in the room from the balcony above,_ "awright, people! Th' moment y'all been a'waitin' for! T'day's th' day we c'n finally show 'em what we're made of! Everyone grab a shovel an' everyone grab a spanner! If ye're not fixing, ye're shovelling! If ye're not shovelling, ye're fixing! If ye're doin' both, great! Y'all do that an' we might jus' live ta see Flank Speed 'afore she blows us ta comet come! Move it! Move it! Move it!_"

It was a moment to savour for all its majesty. It was a rare day when 'Flank Speed' was ordered, and every engineer worth their salt lived in eager anticipation for that day, as both the challenge of their lives and the culmination of their profession. The chance to show what they were really made of, the final rite of passage for a budding engineer, the moment when they stopped being boys and became _men_. Wan managed to halt Shui as she leapt onto the balcony and rushed past him to pick up a shovel. He rested a hand on her shoulder and bade her to turn to face the rest of the engine room. While she was focussed mostly on getting the job done, seeing his chest swell with pride made her settle down and really look at the God of Steel, as it powered up to handle her ultimate test.

"Shui, stop an' take a good look," Wan looked down at the slightly bemused, and slightly pleased, engine monkey, "if we live through this, consider yerself grown up." Taking that moment and milking it for all it was worth allowed Wan to finally hear the urgent yelling coming from below the balcony. Leaning over the railings, he saw the two teenagers who'd given him so much grief before, hopping up and down and waving their arms to attract the engineer's attention. Wan groaned hard enough to make the screws rattle, "awwwww! Why _now _of all times!? Couldn'tya wait fer two seconds!?"

"There's more than one!" Katara called out, desperate eyes communicating all that was needed. Wan leaned silently against the railing, thinking hard. Shui glanced from side to side in confusion.

"Right..." Wan spoke assertively. He swung under the railing to latch onto a ladder leading down to the floor of the engine room, calling behind him, "Shui! Ye're in charge!"

"W..._what!?_" Shui was shocked by the sudden weight of responsibility toppling onto her, "y...ye're sure!? I never done Flank Speed afore!"

"C'mon! Ye c'n do it! Y'know everythin' I knows," Wan assured, pausing at the foot of the ladder, "think 'a this as yer final exam! Ye got th' theory, now try th' practice!"

"Yeah, I seen you in action! I know you can do it!" Sokka punched the air and smiled in encouragement. Wan and Katara, sensing a little more support than was strictly necessary, both came over with the same expression of troubled unease, slowly looking aside at the Water Tribe Warrior with disapproval. Sokka, for his part, picked up on the glaring looks and shrank a little, "eheh...well...we _all _know it, right?"

"Sure..." Wan looked over Sokka suspiciously. Turning back to Shui, he called out, "jus' got somethin' ta take care of! Won't be a second! 'Gameshin' here's helping me out, ain't that right? Just can't keep 'is mind on _nothin' else_, right son?"

Wan's loud statement sounded like a threat, and Sokka flinched away slightly, "uh...yeah. Nothing else."

"Great!" Wan wandered off to the door of the Engine Room, waving back at Shui, "keep 'er warm fer me!"

"Sure thing!" Shui called back, heavily confused at all the signals being sent out. She quickly leaned over to talk to Sokka, "hey! Gameshin! Whatever 'tis ye're doin'...take care, 'kay!?"

Sokka looked up and grinned, "you and me, both!" Katara, scowling furiously, grabbed Sokka by the ear to drag him away from the edge of the furnace. Shui watched them go with an arched eyebrow permanently furrowed into her forehead.

She didn't have much time to shrug it off, as something on the other end of the Engine Room abruptly imploded._ "What're ye doin'!? This ain't no evenin' cruise!_ Damned amateurs..." Shui muttered, stepping up onto the railings to sling herself towards the source of the trouble.

Near the other end of the Engine Room, Sokka winced with the tugging of Katara's arm until the three of them were safely out of sight in the door frame, shrouded in shadow at one side and encased in a red hue at the other.

"How many more?" Wan dropped his voice and asked urgently, dropping the jokey persona to engage in deadly seriousness.

"Maybe five," Katara answered to the best of her knowledge. Wan nodded in recognition, jerking his head aside to get the two disguised Water Tribe siblings to follow him.

"C'm along," Wan headed off, "an' bring yer valentino with ya. This ain't lookin' good at all."

"Look, I don't know what you're thinking, but it's _not_, alright?" Sokka reasoned as they left the door frame to follow Wan.

"It'd better not," Katara spoke bitterly.

* * *

The two of them had to run to catch up with Wan. The old man ran impressively fast, but considering his profession that shouldn't have come as much of a surprise. By the time they halted, they had to lean over and catch their breath. The corridor was badly lit and gloomy beyond all usefulness, a short way away from the Coolant Room. Wan picked a torch up from a nearby rack and flipped on a small gas tap with a lighter affixed. A small burst of flame lit the torch and brightened the corridor. Installing light fixtures was apparently too expensive for this part of the ship.

"What are we doing here?" Sokka asked, having recovered his breath. Wan had wandered some distance down the corridor, looking earnestly for something high on the walls.

"I got th' kid shut tight in th' Coolant Room fer a reason. Ichecked th' marks 'e made on th' stabiliser. 'e must've 'ad th' strength o' ten men ta make those marks," Wan found what he was looking for, a giant flume with a gaping, dripping hole in it, "ta get inta th' Coolant Room would take th' strength've about...fifty."

"No..." Katara stepped forward to look at the flume, the hole easily large enough for a child to crawl through. A chill shuddered up her spine, "they can't..."

"They did." Sokka finished Katara's thought, skulking past to follow Wan, who was already marching to the end of the corridor, to the turning that led to the entrance to the Coolant Room. Wan planted the torch in an empty holster and pulled a ring of keys from his pocket, intuitively knowing which one fit in the lock and twisting. Wan and Sokka entered the chilled interior of the Coolant Room, their hot breath becoming visible in the cold air, expecting and finding the door to Nandi's resting place open, and the tiled metal floor inside as bare as if it had never been touched.

Katara ran up behind them, prepared for the sight but still feeling shock at how everything was coming apart. "They took him away..." she gasped and trembled in the freezer.

"No..." Wan commented, looking at the door to the freezer, "the lock's not forced. This was opened fr'm th' inside."

Katara screwed her eyes shut and clutched herself, whether from the cold or the unease she couldn't tell. Sokka was too energised to notice the cold, speaking frenetically, "we have to tell the Captain about this. We can't hide it any longer."

"What?" Katara broke out of her immobilising fear into a highly mobilising fury, "no way! It's bad enough _he _knows about us!"

"We don't _need _to tell the Captain about us! Just about the...the...Sachichachi things!" Sokka reasoned, "If we warn them, we can work together to deal with all this."

"Right. Work with the Fire Nation," Katara looked away, "good plan."

"We're not hiding a dead kid anymore! There's no reason for us to keep it secret!" Sokka spoke quickly, feeling the time slipping away between his fingers, "there's creepy kids on the prowl, and they're not too bothered 'bout the country the people they're drowning come from. It's not like _he's _turning us in, is he?"

"I gotta say, seeing yer performance, I'm feelin' _mighty inclined_," Wan countered, "but I'm with her. We can't tell the Captain."

"W...why not!?" Sokka nearly screeched.

"'cause, smart guy, first, if she's orderin' Flank Speed ta get ta th' nearest port, she already knows," Wan considered, "an' second, she ain't dumb. She sees you spoutin' off 'bout things people like you shouldn't know, she gonna get damned suspicious. An' ye're more helpful here than in a stockade."

"Helpful...enough...to maybe _not _rat out on as soon as we reach shore?" Sokka leaned over pleafully.

"Don't push yer luck, _spy_," Wan spat with derision.

"Okay, fine, we don't tell the Captain," Sokka retreated, looking mournfully at the bare floor in front of them, "that means it's down to us. We need to know what they're gonna do."

"I _thought _that's what _you _were findin' out!" Wan turned angrily at Sokka, not taking this whole situation nearly as well as he thought he would, "what've you been doing all this time!? Chasin' skirt!?"

"For the _final time_..." Sokka responded testily, "I don't know where you got this dumb idea that I'm chasing after half the women on the ship, but can we _try _to stay focused on what's going on!? You want to know who these people are? Fine. They're called Sa...chi...ho...wait, I can get this...ko! Weird spirit creatures made of water. They lived in the Yalu Pillars until you morons bulldozed 'em through to lay down some stupid railroad tracks. Now they've gone all _crazy _and want to kill us all with spooky waterbending powers. That enough information for ya!?"

Wan paused in his fury and stepped back, taking this news with a little confusion. He shook his head slightly, piecing together the strands that led to an uncomfortable conclusion. "You mean..." Wan spoke slowly, "..._we _did this?"

"Congratulations, Chief Engineer Obvious," Sokka crossed his arms at the engineer, "so now we've made it clear that it's _your fault_, maybe _you _should figure out what to do about this?"

"His...fault..." Katara repeated, realisation catalysing her seizing muscles. Her eyes opened wide, "they think it's his fault! Sokka! We gotta get back to Aa-"

"'Kazukiiiii...'" Sokka whispered urgently, wanting to keep at least one of their identities a closely guarded secret from the Chief Engineer. But his gritted teeth dropped open as he realised what Katara was driving at, "_Kazuki!_"

A loud rumble reverberated through the corridor, high-pitched enough to cause the two Water Tribe siblings to instinctively clamp their hands to their ears. The rumble gave way to a loud, muffled voice, being sent through tubes throughout the _Gang Shen_.

"_May we have your attention. This is Command speaking. By order of the Captain the FLS Gang Shen is under immediate lockdown."_

* * *

"_We have reason to believe the ship to be in danger, from a malicious entity on-board the vessel. We ask for your co-operation as we investigate and eradicate the threat."_

"What does that mean, mummy?" a girl of six years of age crowded closer to her mother.

"It's nothing sweetheart," the mother cradled her daughter closer, trembling slightly, "it's nothing."

_All passengers must stay in their compartments until further notice, and be prepared to submit to a full headcount. If you wish to access any other part of the vessel, you must be accompanied by a member of the ship's crew at all times."_

* * *

"_Any children found unattended must be reported to the crew at once. Especially children aged between ten and twelve years old."_

"Trust this to be the one journey out of a million that something bad happens," the crewman wandered, knife in belt, down the corridor as he did his newly-assigned rounds, "serves me right for getting away from the fro- heyyy...what gives?"

The crewman picked his drenched foot out of a small puddle and shook it off. Looking down at the puddle, alone and out of place in the bare, empty corridor, he quickly looked up to see where the leak was coming from.

The childish grin was the last thing he saw.

"_Any violation of these directives will be referred directly to the Captain. These precautions are for your own safety."_

* * *

"_Repeat. ANY violation of these directives will be referred directly to the Captain. These precautions are for your own safety. Thank you."_

"Can you really sleep with that racket?" Toph turned around to ask. Rhetorically, as it turned out.

"...no..." Aang groaned, shaking himself awake and rubbing his eyeballs clear. He sighed heavily, "things're getting bad, huh?"

"Depends how you look at it..." Toph smiled. She was still squatted at the end of the room, having been deep in concentration for some hours now. But now she was extremely pleased, practically chuffed with herself, having investigated her potential to her heart's content. The earthbender bragged, "you wanna see something really cool?"

"All the time," Aang smiled his own sweet smile, feeling much more relaxed after his short nap and less liable to suddenly disintegrate if he dared to use his muscles. He leaned over the edge of the bed to get a closer look at the blind girl sitting on the floor, her body facing the wall and the sheet of impure metal in front of her. The metal sheet looked mysteriously smaller somehow. For that matter Toph herself looked different somehow. He hadn't paid too much attention to her arms before, but he was certain she'd had sleeves before. Now her arms had somehow gotten bare. He was still too fuzzy-brained to check, "watcha got!?"

"I've been checking out what I can do with metal and what I can't do," Toph placed a hand on the metal sheet, beginning the demonstration, "I can 'see' the earth inside the metal...it's kinda like it 'laces' it...but to bend it, I need to feel through the metal to 'grab' onto the earthy bits. The connection to the earth isn't obvious like with rock or dirt...it's hidden...but it's still there."

Toph stood upright, stepping back a short distance from the metal sheet and holding her palms out, "so that means, if I try to bend it from a distance..." her hand slid to one side, but the metal sheet didn't budge, "...doesn't work." The earthbending master leant down to place her hand on the sheet again, "but if I keep contact with it, feel the link with the earth coarsing through it with my fingers..."

Toph's hand made a number of complex, convoluted motions, so many that Aang found it hard to keep up. Fingers spread apart, clutched together, gripping like a claw, pointing ahead like a compass, with little pause between movements. The workings of the metal itself was even more incredible, shifting in the blink of an eye into a circle, an oval, a pillar, a bar, a blade, a spiral...Toph had obviously been experimenting a while. Aang was amazed enough he was ready to overlook the rough edges, uneven surfaces and crumpled corners. It was a wonder to behold.

"That's incredible!" Aang felt that surge of excitement he normally reserved for sprinting across tight-ropes tied between tree tops, "can you show me how to do that?"

"Feeling envious, aren't we?" Toph teased, spreading her fingers out to get the sheet back to something like a square, "sorry, Aang. I can only see the earth in the metal because I'm used to seeing everything this way. It took a whole day being trapped in a box to get me to do this much. Something tells me people with eyesight wouldn't be able to do it."

"Man..." Aang whined. He piped up soon enough, "but that's just so _awesome! _I never seen you do that before!"

Who knows...if I try hard enough I might find a way to bend all metals," Toph held up her arm to show to Aang, "until then, just in case we don't find any metals again, feast your senses on _this_."

Aang peered closer, and the reason why Toph looked so different finally slapped him in the face, "heyyyy...you got bands!"

"Made 'em myself," Toph gleamed. Right enough, at the end of her bare arms, wrapped around just before her wrists, were a segmented metal bracelet each. Looking down, the earthbender's trousers no longer formed a loose rim around her feet, but instead the ends were now haphazardly tucked into two more metal bracelets, wrapped around her legs just above her ankles. For the first time, Toph was actually wearing something that fit her slender form. She asked honestly, "how does it look, Dead-Weight?"

"You look...great..." Aang found himself saying before he could stop. As if his life wasn't complicated enough.

"Good. It'd have been awkward if these made me look like a dork," Toph, to Aang's eternal thanks, hadn't picked up on the unfortunate complement, and felt the bands around her wrists to make them feel more comfortable. Toph explained, "now, wherever we go, I got a ready supply of this stuff to kick people's butts with. I figured I'd find out how I can use 'em while we're going."

"That's...a really, really great idea," Aang was seriously impressed, "what kinds of things d'you think you can do?"

Toph, looking slightly, unsmilingly mischievous, sat straight upright and held forward her hand, drawing her fingers back before flinging them forward together, forming a cone. The metal on her wrist also flung forward, but instead of a collection of pudgy digits it instead formed a viciously sharp blade. "I got a few ideas," Toph drawled.

Aang drew away from being impressed and into mild terror. Then he felt annoyed at her for giving out at least four mixed signals inside of a minute. The fiend. He came over with a yawn, and scratched his back exhaustively, using his tiredness as a distraction from his thoughts. "So we're stuck in here, huh?" Aang referred to the announcement, feeling more than a little concerned, "I hope Sokka and Katara are alright."

"Pfft, they're _fine_. Sugar Queen's got the whole 'waterbending puppets' thing down, so they got nothing to worry about," Toph clenched her fist to bendher bracelet back into position, "and now we got my arms of iron, we got nothing to worry about, either."

"You think they might come in here?" Aang asked with concern.

"Nah," Toph answered with a little disappointment, "door's locked anyway. What're they gonna do? Knock?"

The metal door knocked, and the two of them froze rigid from the dramatic irony. No voice came after the knock, and the idea of answering it never crossed their minds until the door, upon which the sun made a circle through the porthole, knocked again more forcefully. Toph took to her feet slowly and purposefully.

"Who is it!?" she asked. A beat later and they felt prepared to run for their lives.

"Ensign Xai. Taking the headcount," a young, strong voice came through the wall, "have your tickets and identification ready. Don't worry, it won't take a moment."

Toph and Aang both relaxed their paranoia. It was a strange day when being surprised by a Fire Nation soldier was a relief. Toph turned aside to whisper, "...what do you think?..."

Aang shrugged, "...so long as we act natural, no problem..."

Toph nodded and felt around for the handle, unlocking the door, "come on in!"

The crew member, dressed in the rough attire of a lower naval rank and sporting a small, pointy beard, strode in with a nib, a scroll, and little concern for pleasantries. He gave the two kids a cursory look in the eye and concentrated on his scroll, "okay, names?"

"Ming Zhi, and this is my friend, Kazuki," Toph held her arm out towards what she guessed to be the direction of the bed.

"Hi!" Aang waved, an involuntary cough erupting as he sat up to greet the newcomer, "sorry, got a spell of the flu. No disrespect meant."

"That's fine," Xai scrolled his finger down the list, finding their names in the registry, "identification?" Toph pulled her ration book out of her pocket and flicked open the first page with her fingers. Aang, in the meantime, was fishing around on top of the bedside table for his ration book. Xai looked up from his scroll and stared irritably at Toph, stating "the _other _way..."

"Oh! Heheh..." Toph muttered nervously, fumbling the book until the actual inside cover was shown. She needed to fix that for next time, she reminded herself. Aang had finally found his ration book and quickly flicked through to the right page. He eagerly leaned forward and smiled broadly as he showed off his gleaming alter ego...until his left arm abruptly failed on him and resulted in his forehead impacting against the bedstead.

"That didn't need to be _nearly _as complicated a process as you both made it," Xai commented to Aang, who was rolling back onto the bed and nursing his aching forehead. The crewman looked down the list again and raised an eyebrow, "and it gets more complicated still. Shouldn't there be two more people in this room?"

"You mean...Gameshin and Ursa?" Toph reeled off the names from memory, "they're probably on their way back right now. They've only just made the announcement, after all."

"Fair enough..." Xai looked over the both of them suspiciously, "except I can't help but notice that you're children aged between ten and twelve being left unattended. Aaaaand...I need tickets, please."

Their smiles disappeared. This was getting bad. Toph patted her clothing for any trace of extra slips of paper. Her pulse began racing when her pockets revealed nothing and her pathological dislike of being questioned butt-kissing paper-pushers began to manifest, "Gameshin has the tickets. Look...we're...we're in the quarters, aren't we? So that's okay, right? The door's locked, and we're trusted, fully responsible people, right?"

"And...and we're not going to be wandering around! I'm bed-ridden! See?" Aang leaned up and furiously patted his forehead, "I can't keep my hand on my forehead it's so hot!"

"So you've nothing to worry about from us, right?" Toph pushed for some reassurance.

"Be that as it may, I still need tickets," Xai said dismissively, looking down at the scroll in his arm.

"I already said! Gameshin has the tickets!" Toph was close to calling the man an idiot. She mustered as much self-control as twelve years as an exhibition piece could endow.

Xai didn't seem interested in what Toph was saying, and after a while rolled his head up as if the blind girl had only just asked a question, mumbling "...hmm?"

"The tickets!" Toph shouted, "you were asking about the tickets!"

It was then that Aang began noticing the swaying. It seemed weird and top-heavy, not the result of any actual movement from the crewman. Xai's face came over with confusion, "what tickets?"

"Ensign Xai?" Aang leaned over to ask, "are you feeling alright?"

Xai's head rolled up and stared straight through Aang, smiling blankly, "Ensign Xai's unwell? I hope he gets better..."

The scroll Xai was holding flopped to the ground, the part nearest to his feet becoming soaked with water. As soon as Toph heard the flap of the scroll against the metal floor she slid her feet back into a battle stance, breathing steadily and frowning fiercely at the sensations before her. Aang's eyes widened in horror, "I'll...take that as a 'no'..."

"Aang! Get back!" Toph yelled. She drew her foot back in frightened disgust when a puddle of water reached her toe. She seethed through gritted teeth, "you're not getting me this time you _freak_..."

Xai's veins throbbed with hard effort. His limbs hung limply, his feet no longer supporting his feet and yet staying upright. A convulsive giggle burst out, "eheheheh...heh...crying shame...heheh...it was a good experiment...heh...eheheheheh...eghk..."

Xai's head drooped back, and all movement ceased. Toph leapt backwards as the crewman's body clumped onto the floor with a splash, no longer being held up. The blind earthbender's hands trembled, too concentrated on the unseen lump on the ground to think straight. It took Aang to look out the door and cry out for her to snap out of it, "_Toph! Shut the do-_"

Toph's pigtail's snapped off of her shoulders from the speed of the air rushing past her, and she sensed something with mass closing the distance between the door and Aang's bed inside a second. Acting instinctively, the earthbending master sprung her legs, faced where she guessed the door to be, and pushed her feet firmly into the ground. The earth, deeply embedded inside the metal that clung to her legs, obliged with a spring of its own, launching Toph a short distance into the air and closing quickly on the door. It hit her sooner than expected, but she spun quickly on contact, using her force and weight to close her back onto the metal door, slamming it shut before anything inside the room could escape.

The door locked automatically, and shuddered from the bodily impact Toph made on it. Panting, she didn't give herself the chance to get her breath back, pushing herself back onto her feet and making a strong stance. She prepared for a fight...but none was forthcoming. She relaxed, and her breathing eased, but her alertness stayed sharp and was getting sharper. She calmed, waited, and listened closely.

There was nothing to listen to. The engine's rumble revealed no footmarks. The air betrayed no sound. Nothing moved or shifted after that sudden rush of air before. Whatever had come into the room was still in the room. Whatever was in the room was holding Aang hostage.

Six puppets watched her with wide, gentle smiles...the Avatar was losing the strength to watch anything...and she couldn't sense a thing.

**To Be Continued…**

_**Avatar: The Last Airbender **_Concept and Characters © Nickelodeon 2005-06

* * *

**Author's Note: **3 days after my final essay deadline, I thank for your patience and your incredibly helpful reviews, you finally have A NEW CHAPTER! One that ends in a suspenseful cliffhanger! Woooooo...

You may well have noticed the shorter length of this chapter. This is what is called 'the exercise of rational thought'. You people are finding the long chapters exhausting. _I'm _finding the long chapters exhausting. Following the simple if...then style of argument, if both fan-ficcer and fan-ficcee want shorter chapters, then maybe shorter chapters would be nice. Please bear in mind you're not getting less material because of this. I'll be writing the same amount of stuff, just in shorter, more frequent bursts. This is good for both your reading pleasure and my sanity. So...yay!

Thank you all for reading...and by the way, if either you're getting restless for updates or want to read something different, read Assault Sloth's fan-fic '100 Years'. It deserves more readers and it's qualitylicious!


	8. Jiang Shi

Now it was Wan's turn to get annoyed with all the running. It was rapidly becoming a theme of their time together that they were always heading off to somewhere else like a bunch of headless chicken-pigs. The disguised Water Tribe siblings were feeling too frantic to notice. Their sprinting feet clanged against the steel floors, dashing from dim light to fuzzy darkness and back again as they passed the many lights and lamps that lined the corridors.

"An' why're we headed ta yer pal's room again!?" Wan asked loudly, not out of breath but still agitated, "these things wanna sink th' ship! What makes you guys so special?"

"We know more about these things than you!" Sokka puffed behind him, "so nyah!"

"Convincing, Sokka, real convincing," Katara droned in-between harsh breaths, almost completely focused on running as fast as possible. As she approached a main artery inside the vessel, she didn't think twice about caution or subterfuge, what with Aang's life being at stake. With such thoughts far from her mind, she was actually enraged when something tugged hard behind her and made her stop just before the turning into the main corridor.

"Wait!" urged Wan, clutching the both of them by the backs of their shirts and pulling back into the murky side-passage. The sudden halt nearly sent them sprawling, and as they regained their balance Katara swung around, ready to give him hell for interfering. She paused, however, as Wan ducked down and pressed a finger to his lips, urging silence. He unlocked a cramped storage room and ushered them inside, slamming it shut just as two crew members approached from either side of the passageway.

The room was stocked high with tins of grease. Sokka was finding it hard to not barf. He whispered urgently, "why are we in a _room full of grease_...?"

"I don't wanna be dragged t' th' Captain havin' ta explain why I'm helping _you_ skulk about when ye should be in yer quarters," Wan whispered back.

"We're going there _anyway_..." Sokka's voice lowered, "maybe it'd be better if we got an escort or something..."

"We can't lead them to him..." Katara pleaded quietly to Sokka, voice dispersing as metallic footsteps approached from either side of the door and halted in front of it. For a few tense seconds the handle was twisted, twisted back, twisted again, and finally returned to its original position.

A female voice came from the other side, "it's locked. We'll have to get Wan to open it."

"How would some kids play hide and seek in a locked room?" an older male voice spoke in return, "what do you think they did? Went up to Wan and asked for the key first?"

"We have to check _everything_," the first voice asserted, "no exceptions. Make a note of the room. We'll come back later."

The two sets of footsteps clanked away and disappeared into muffled silence. It was only when the group in the closet exhaled that they noticed they'd been holding their breaths. Katara, sighing in relief, jumped suddenly when Wan placed a hand on her shoulder and leaned in to ask under his breath, "can't lead them to _who_?"

Sokka, hoping to drive the engineer to distraction, remarked urgently, "can we get out of the stinky grease room now? The inside of my nose is melting..."

"Not yet, just half a minute more," Wan considered. Katara turned away and looked aside.

"We won't make it in time," she decided.

"Sure we will!" Sokka comforted, "and maybe we don't need to! Toph's there after all."

Katara looked up at the small ray of light being reflected by a tiny mirror from the hallway to the room. She had doubts...very real doubts...that this was one situation Toph had little to no power over.

* * *

She waited and listened. If she was good at anything she was good at that. Trying to hear the edges, the rattle of the engine throbbing through the hull, betraying the signs of some presence in the room. There was none. The air was still, no footsteps fell. She felt completely alone, but she knew they were there. Watching her, and waiting in their own good time. And holding the Avatar hostage.

"Come on!" Toph goaded, "fight me!"

"It's your move, girl."

The boy's voice drifted around the room like a cloud, and Toph immediately spun around to punch a fist in its direction. The metal band around her wrist formed a thin blade, punching forward with incredible momentum. It made a sizeable dent in the wall, but met not a trace of Nandi. Toph reeled the blade back with a forceful jerking back of her fist, and waited further. The six children held fast, vultures waiting for the kill, one of whom was clinging to Aang, hand clamped over his airways and deprived of oxygen. They smiled with nothing. They laughed with even less.

"Eheheheh...even without sight, you're still blinded with sense."

Toph growled as she brought her wrists together and pushed her palms apart, thrusting her arms out as she spun around to where the voice was coming from, the other side of the room from where it was. Four tendrils burst forth and pummelled yet another bare wall. She pulled her fists back to her waist reeling the metal back like fishing lines, and standing firm. She relaxed her fury and concentrated. The voices weren't coming from anywhere. She just thought they came from somewhere.

"Okay...Nandi...I know you're in here," Toph coaxed, "I don't know if there's more than one of you or not, but y'know what? It doesn't matter how many of you there are. 'cause _none _of you are getting through this door with Aang."

"Who would've thought she'd be so protective?" a girl's voice drifted out.

"She doesn't seem the type," another boy commented.

"It's not about protection," a noticeably smaller girl's voice spoke, beginning to erupt into giggles, "eheheheh...it's about pride..."

"Heheheheh...that's...heheh...asking for a fall..." a lighter-toned boy's voice added to the mixture.

"Heheheheh...she doesn't like what she is...heheh...so she...heh...she tries to be more...eheheheheh..." a girl's voice, deeper than the others thus far.

"Heheheheh...so...heheh...tragically...heh..._human_..." Nandi brought it back full circle, and the room filled with empty, distant giggling. Toph took it surprisingly well.

"What're trying to do? Knock my self-confidence?" Toph harrumphed, stepping slowly around in a circle, her bare feet sifting through the growing puddles of water, "you don't even know me! Y'think after 12 years of being told I'm worse than useless that I'm just gonna crumble like a pile of bricks by being called mean names?"

"You talk yourself larger than you are," Nandi teased, "you believe yourself beyond your nature."

"Says the undead floating dripping boy," Toph countered, beginning to pause to take stock of any shift and change in the room. The kids were talking, forming puddles and grabbing hold of someone who was actually alive, but somehow left no trace of a direction doing any of these things. That was impossible. She had to think abstractly, "no one could say you're not walking the talk. You really_ are_ beyond your nature."

"Nothing's beyond nature," the first girl butted in, "you humans might have forgotten that, but we haven't."

"C'mon, Ju, give her some credit," Nandi smiled, "she doesn't want to admit what she is. And she tries so hard not to admit it. It's fantastic."

"Don't tell me you miss being human," one of the other boys contributed, "don'tcha love our new mamas and papas?"

"Well duh, Bao. Sure I love them," Nandi mocked playfully, "but just cuz my new life's so much better don't mean my old life was worthless. My old mother took me to see the Grand Fleet on parade. I left my name on the Faxin Cliffs. And I met you, Toph."

Toph stood stock still, no longer circling. She needed the silence to hear a pin drop. Curiosity got the better of her, "what d'ya mean...'and you met me'? All you did was steal my pet."

"You meant more than that to me," Nandi informed, "you don't know what kinda impact you make. In fact...I think I have a crush on you."

...Toph retreated from the conversation, her emotions wildly whipping between outrage and introspection. She recalled their meetings. He always wanted to talk to her. No matter how much she'd insulted him, he'd simply ignored it. He was always happy when she was around, and wanting to please her in his own smiling, dorky fashion. And then the clincher...his crushing disappointment when she'd finally shut the lid firmly on anything resembling friendship. As soon as that happened, whatever trace of Nandi left disappeared.

"Is your self-confidence knocked now?" the smaller girl teased. The giggling began again, teeth-gratingly constant and quiet. Toph's nerves were set on edge by the giggling, the cold water pooling around her feet, sweating and fuming like a war rhino about to charge.

"_Shut up!_" Toph flung her arm around, trailing a thin sliver of metal away from her wrist. She whipped the sliver across the room, slicing cloth and bedding. A loud crumple accompanied it as Aang's bed collapsed in two. Toph trembled with fury. The giggling continued ringing in her ears, keeping her from hearing anything else, uninterrupted by her rageful outburst. She'd never felt so impotent.

"Heheheh...don't mind Niu...heheh...she's just jealous..." Nandi gloated.

"He's right, you know," Niu admitted, "I don't like having competition."

Toph jerked her fist back again, the speed of the metal's whip back leaving a long silver streak across the floor. Toph was shouting spittle, "competition!? _He's a zombie! _I hated him even when he was alive!"

"Pretty forceful about it, ain'tcha?" the sly girl noted.

"...not you too..." Toph groaned, "can't someone just honestly _hate _people these days?"

"Ya does have a point," Nandi commented, "I never did anything to you. I looked after your winged lemur for a day, and gave him straight back. I was nothing except nice to you, and you were nothing except nasty to me. Why was that?"

"Because you _annoyed me_," Toph argued, "read into that whatever you like."

"Does the Avatar annoy you?" Nandi asked.

Toph went silent. These...things could see through whatever she said, and she couldn't deny that he did annoy her. Constantly. On an hourly basis. But his life was in danger, here, right in front of her, and to give them any more ammunition than she stupidly obliged them with would put his life still more at risk. She remained silent, and steadied her stance, calming her heart to prevent it from beating through her chest.

"Would you be comfier telling the murderer yourself?" Nandi dared.

There was a small sound, barely perceptible to anyone else, but to Toph it rang through the room like a struck anvil. A small, sighing groan. The same sound, from the same voice, that she'd heard when Aang was sleeping bad dreams, or struggling to stay alive. A small, pathetic mew, from the world's saviour.

"Aang!" Toph flung her fists ahead in the direction of the sound, but just as she was about to act, she stopped short. Her fists were shaking.

"Smart girl," Nandi mocked, "wouldn't want to skewer your saviour, would you? Even if it would save us the effort."

"He's not...!" Toph blurted, snorting through a runny nose. "He's...!" Toph was left bereft of comebacks. She couldn't do anything. Her head angled lower towards the ground, bright red in fear and hatred.

"You know, I actually wanted to see if I could be friends with you, without bringing you into the family," Nandi spoke distantly, "but what hope would I have had? You already eloped with a dead boy."

Toph's tears trickled down her contorted face, as her head lifted up again. She screamed. She screamed at the wall to her left, lacerating it several times. She screamed at the wall to her right, punching and puncturing it until the screws burst out the other side. She screamed at the far side of the room, hooking the furthest bed, pulling it off of its hinges ,and throwing it at the far wall, smashing the porthole and cutting off all light to the room. She screamed at the wall behind her, clawing strips away from it. She screamed hard enough to cut her windpipe into shreds, "_what do you want from us!?_"

"Nothing. Our new family loves us as we are," Nandi spoke calmly, "our old families never did. Yours especially, Toph. Wouldn't you like to have a papa who is proud of your abilities, rather than ashamed of them?"

Toph shrank back in disgust, "don't you_ dare_ compare these things to my parents! They_ killed you _to use your bodies as dress-up dolls! That's...that's just..._evil_!"

"But it's incredible. Heheheh...I don't know...heheh...I don't know how I survived without it," Nandi was lost in rapture, "heheheh...I don't have to worry anymore...heheh...about getting things wrong...heh...about being alone...heheheh...because they're always there, watching over me, taking care of me...and...heh...and I don't even need to do anything..."

The giggling came, and wouldn't stop. Toph was past bursting point, past all pretence of waiting and listening. She just stood there, trembling hard enough to make ripples in the puddle beneath her feet. No amount of raging would do anything. No amount of listening would break past the giggles. And they would never stop giggling.

But in one moment she gasped. A piercing shriek came from her left, and a ball of fur leapt out of his hiding place and clamped his claws around the head of one of the children. She could hear all of it. With a sense of purpose powerful enough to move mountains, she twisted and thrust a fist forward, slamming a wall of metal into Niu and into the far wall.

Momo flew off and sprang onto Toph's shoulder, twisting her whole body aside to face an approaching menace. Toph brought the metal wall back and hammered it into Bao on the rebound. She repositioned her stance, breathing harshly, but beginning to sport a creeping smile. This was more like it.

"You abuse nature to fight nature, and we abuse humanity to fight humanity," Nandi teased, "now that's irony."

"You want _iron!_? Why didn't you say!?" Toph slid her right leg side-forward and twisted her foot, sliding her hand with fingers outstretched in the process, making a series of spikes burst forward and up through the bed-posts from her leg-bands. Nandi narrowly avoided the spike trap and headed straight for Toph, spinning quickly around to fling a foot outwards. Toph blocked that, and quickly blocked another attempt to spin his foot down on top of her head. Various more moves were tried, but just in the nick of time Momo was always able to tug Toph's attention to the moves. It was hard keeping up with them all, but Toph eventually sensed a pattern and, taking the initiative, formed a hammer around her hand and pummelled it straight into Nandi's stomach, sending him flying.

A sharp pain burst in the small of her back as Ya laid into Toph, pushing her against the wall. Toph spun around, but Ya managed to avoid the earthbender's blow, leaping up to slice her palm into Toph's head. Toph blocked this, and was sprightly enough to avoid another blow as it was coming and step out of Ya's vice. Any chance of turning the tables were dashed when Momo tugged Toph's attention towards Ju, flying towards her with a fast elbow swing. Toph managed to block that by shunting her leg-band into the ground and jumping, kicking the elbow away while still keeping Ya pinned. Ya, however, had managed to wrap her hands around Toph's arm, in an excellent position to break it into two. Thinking quickly, Toph sent a tendril of metal over to the far end of the room, dragging her rapidly out of the trap.

Toph bounced off the bottom of the bed crushed against the wall a split second before Tai flew his weight into the bed, splitting it in two and allowing daylight to re-enter the room. Toph splashed on the floor quickly enough to form a hammer around her foot and crash it into Ya, who was quickly approaching behind her. A recovered Bao emerged to grapple onto Toph's foot, allowing Tai to re-emerge from the collapsed bed and step atop Toph's head, pressing it into her neck. Toph cried in agony, and kicked her free foot upwards to catch Bao in the jaw and allow her head some free space. Her arms stretched out to pull herself out from underneath Tai's foot, which made a tremendous dent in the floor.

Planting her wrist-band into the floor she spin-kicked Tai into the left wall. Left vulnerable however, she was grappled in the back by Niu, and pinned down. Her face pressed into the puddle, she grunted, spitted water and squirmed in defiance, unable to move. Momo was tugging on her shoulder to get her back up, but to little avail, as Nandi stepped up calmly, looking as if nothing had happened to him. He stepped across the strewn debris to squat next to Toph's pinned body, remarking, "I think I'll have my pet back, now."

"Just you try," Toph dared Nandi. Momo was having none of it, flying up through the boy's reaching hands to clamp onto Niu's face, making her reel back from the impact and give Toph a valuable opportunity to scythe her arm upwards and clear both of them away with a single swipe. As soon as she was back on her feet, Momo flew up to tug her around at the next threat, from Ju again, which she blocked quickly but wasn't quick enough to react against Bao's rapid swipe that took Toph's legs off the floor. Before she hit the ground, she thrust her fist upwards to puncture the ceiling, pulling her upwards quickly away from the trap the two children threatened to trap her in.

She kicked out to puncture the wet floor and bring her down away from the others. As she fell back, Toph formed her wrist-bands into sharp, long scythes, warning off the two that tried to catch her as she was descending. Splashing on her knee, she covered her upper and lower torso with the scythes, digging her feet into the ground and preparing to charge. With the help of her leg-bands, she power-charged down the length of the half-destroyed room towards the children.

Abruptly, Momo shrieked and pulled hard against Toph's ears. The blind girl winced and, panicking slightly, ceased to a halt with the blade half an inch away from the neck of a groaning, half-conscious boy. Nandi was holding Aang by the armpits, blocking Toph's way. Toph's heartbeat raced at a thousand _li _a minute, adrenalised beyond belief. Nandi was utterly placid by comparison, "does he want irony too? Or is that a stupid pun too far?"

Toph had no energy left to do anything but fume. He had her in a bind, with little way past. While plans for getting Aang were racing through her head, she was becoming irritably aware of the tiny, minuscule tugs on her right ear Momo was making. She was in no position to make him stop, but on wondering why he was doing it, realisation slowly crept up on her that Momo was actually trying to help.

"You're so strong-willed, Toph. I really admire that about you. You'll be a great member of the family," Nandi continued the conversation, "not like the Avatar here. Our mothers and fathers know all about him. They told us, how they were made homeless...how our brothers and sisters were murdered...all because this weak-willed coward ran away from his promise to us. We'll take him down to meet them soon, down to the very bottom of this beast, where he belongs."

Toph slowly and surely lifted up her upper scythe, quarter of an inch every second. When Momo tugged down, she lifted it up. When Momo tugged backward or forward, she changed the angle. Slowly, but surely, the blade angled gradually over Aang's head. Toph attempted to remain as straight faced as possible.

"You can't begin to understand what it's like to know that you have no future. We thought we were protected, special, indispensable to the world. We formed the first rivers, and helped make the world a bountiful, beautiful place. When the first men came along, we were glad to associate with these smart, appreciative apes. We helped those who needed help, and harmed those who wished harm. We were feared, and worshipped, and we thought we'd earned our place in the natural order of things," Nandi calmly ranted, "but only one of us believed in a natural order of things. We deluded ourselves into thinking that you really did appreciate us and what we represented, that the balance was important to you. But we were really nothing more than a commodity to mine and sell to the highest bidder. And then, we weren't even worth that. In the end we were obstacles to pave over. We imagined, 'at least the Avatar hears us. At least he knows our worth'. But he turns out worse than the rest of them. He showed his appreciation for the world the moment he decided to disappear from it. How can you stand being with him?"

Toph shrugged, "he's fun to tease?" Her palm clenched into a fist, and the scythe transformed instantly into a battering ram, avoiding Aang's head and pummelling into Nandi in a split second, with the force of a charging train. A mighty crush erupted at the far end of the room, sending debris in all directions, while Aang fell away to the ground. Toph reeled her fists back to be rid of the weaponry her bands had transformed into, and caught Aang before he hit the ground.

She leant him up, checking him over. Placing her hand on his chest, she could tell that although he was weak, Aang was stable and in no danger, at least. This was some relief, and Toph actually relaxed a little. Her relaxation was short-lived. In front of her, a fit of giggling slowly grew from a background murmur into a crescendo. She couldn't fathom what they were so on edge about, until she felt the cool breeze against her sweaty cheeks. Her arms and legs were occupied, and Momo was fretting urgently. The blind earthbender could tell what was happening next, and it chilled her to the bone more effectively than any breeze. She mumbled softly, "...no..."

Toph was thwacked in the chest with what felt like the God of Steel itself, being ripped away from Aang and buried in the wall nearest the door. She yelled in pain as her back bounced off of the wall, and fell forward onto her hands, wheezing desperately. She clawed herself to her feet and took a stance, feeling the sounds and shaking and whatever Momo was indicating, but none of these things came to pass. The breeze passed through unhindered, the room was empty, and Aang was gone.

Dejected, Toph gulped and leaned back against the wall, her energy utterly exhausted. She felt dizzy and uncertain in her legs, so she slowly collapsed back onto the floor. She was too tired even to cry. She couldn't do anything except sit there and breath as much as she could. Momo cautiously crawled up to Toph, and settled down next to her lap, looking up with wide eyes at Toph. She could feel the lemur, but she couldn't raise her hand enough to pet him. Instead, her hand was held a few inches high, allowing Momo to look carefully at the wounds inflicted, and lick them sympathetically.

Toph smiled weakly. She could feel the breeze and the sun on her skin, the earth embedded around her wrists and her ankles, and the constant rumble of the God of Steel. It was company of a sort.

* * *

"It's got to be an attack, ma'am! We need to get our men off the search and onto battle stations!" Lieutenant Tan urged in a state of panic, reacting instinctively to the plume of smoke emanating from the side of the hull.

"Settle down, Lieutenant," Mayu strode onto the forward balcony with a portable eyepiece, leaning over the side and looking closely at the source of the damage, "there's not another ship all the way to the horizon in every direction. It must've come from the inside. There's nothing but passenger quarters there, no vital machinery...strange..."

"This is crazy," Tan fretted, "there should be at least one other ship within hailing distance. They can't leave us to our fate like this."

"Blame the Avatar and the Ocean Spirit for that," Mayu quipped, putting the eyepiece to her right eye, "the Avatar's no longer an issue, but I'm starting to think the Ocean Spirit might have something to do with...what the..."

Mayu leaned over in shock at what she saw through the eyepiece. A convoy of seven...what looked like children, with one being held by another one...floating alongside the port side of the hull, down from the smoking cabin and towards the section next to the conning tower. One by one they lifted themselves over the side of the hull and disappeared into an open ladderway. It was once all the children had disappeared that Mayu felt capable of tearing her eyes away from the eyepiece, murmuring, "dear Agni..."

"What did you see, ma'am?" Tan asked in curiosity. Mayu was gawping for a few crucial seconds until she spun around with renewed energy and ordered right into Lieutenant Tan's face.

"_Get everyone you can and concentrate them in the lower rear decks! Now!_" Mayu yelled, "_search for seven children with the ability to levitate! Secure and immobilise them without restraint! _And if any of you doubt me I'll personally punch you in the face._ Understand!?_"

* * *

The crowd of onlookers was the first sign that something had gone terribly, terribly wrong. The massive dents in the wall were the second sign. Wan cleared the way to their room, shoving people aside and yelling "crew comin' through! Crew comin' through! C'mon, people, y'should be in yer rooms anyways! _Get back! Get back!_"

The crowd grudgingly dispersed, leaving the three of them to fiddle with the lock. They had to splash through a puddle spreading from underneath the door to reach it. It wouldn't budge. Sokka and Wan together shoved themselves onto the door, pushing and shunting until the door finally gave way. Katara, standing behind them, was the first to see the state of the room, and brought hands to face in shock. Sunlight hit her face as she looked at the gaping hole at the end of the room, and her bangs lifted up from the breeze. Wan and Sokka were similarly flabbergasted at the scene of utter devastation, with slices of wall torn off, beds chopped into bits, and a dead body of a crewman clumped in a puddle in the middle of the room.

Katara shouldered past Wan and Sokka, looking around utterly speechless. As her head glanced behind, she noticed the crumpled figure collected in the corner. "Toph!" she cried, rushing down onto her knees to accompany the earthbender, bruised and battered and barely conscious. Katara looked up angrily to yell, "close that door!"

"Aaaah...excellent advice," Toph chimed in, while Wan and Sokka entered the room to close the door as best they could behind them. Katara swung her arm aside and up to bring water out of her pouch, as Toph looked up exhaustedly, "three guesses what just happened."

"Take it easy, something might be broken," Katara laid the healing water across Toph's body in a preliminary examination. After a few seconds she sighed in relief, "it's only bruises. Some internal bleeding, but nothing that can't be fixed."

"That's good," Toph commented, "I don't really feel like 'doing a Je-'"

A small fit of coughing interrupted as Katara set to work. She tut-tutted the earthbender in a distinctly medical manner, "I told you to take it easy. Trust you to not do what your told even when your life depends on it...hey..." Katara's attention shifted to the metal bands on Toph's arms, "...what's the point of these?"

"As soon as I can stand up without puking, maybe I can give you a sneak preview," Toph joked.

"Yeah, touching..." Wan interrupted, "look, we can't stay here. Th' guards 'r gonna be on us any second. If _this _don't get th' Captain suspicious, nothin' will!"

"You crazy!? We can't move her!" Katara snapped at the engineer.

"Actually, I'm feeling kinda better..." Toph croaked, leaning up slightly, "...maybe just to the next room or something..."

"Hey, who's the healer here?" Katara scolded Toph, "sit back and stop killing yourself. Doctor's orders."

"Mannn..." Toph whined, dropping back down to pout.

"Sorry Chief, but if there was a time to tell the Captain everything, it's now," Sokka leaned aside, "Toph? Nandi and some other kids did this, right?"

"Nandi, Niu, Bao, Ya, Ju and some fat kid," Toph said distractedly, "I tried to remember the names."

"Did he say anything?" Sokka asked.

"Try getting him to stop..." Toph moaned, wincing as another wound was closed, and sighing with relaxation once it did.

"There we go! Easy alibi! The creepy kid detailed his whole plan before blowing up the room and fleeing!" Sokka smiled in triumph.

"Alright," Wan nodded, "an' th' reason why th' creepy kid chose ta blow up _this _room is becaaauuuse...?"

"It...it doesn't matter!" Sokka gesticulated, "they're creepy psycho water creatures with an axe to grind! They don't need a _reason_."

"Doesn't matter, huh? It don't matter when fer some reason some psycho creature who wants ta sink ma ship an' ma god 'long with it goes _outta its way _ta blow up sum' random crew quarters that by lucky coincidence belong ta you."

"...that's right," Sokka squealed. Wan looked considerate for a brief moment, then abruptly grabbed Sokka by the collar and shoved him against the wall. Toph saw it first and leaned forward to stop him, only to break out into another fit of coughs. Katara leaned Toph back down and looked around, too far in the middle of healing Toph to interrupt.

"What're you doing!?" Katara yelled.

"_Ye're hidin' sumthin'!_" Wan accused the warrior, "sumthin' big 'n important that ye wants ta take ta th' Fire Nation. Now what c'n that be, I wonder?"

"...nothing...sir..." Sokka croaked, "...we're just...simple...run-of...the-mill...spiiiies..."

"_Stop it!_" Katara commanded, interrupting Toph's treatment to stem the water threateningly before Wan. The Chief Engineer ignored her.

"Ye're in no position ta make demands, missy," Wan threatened in turn, "th' guards'll be here any moment, an' y'know what? I gone 'n changed ma mind. I thinks we gotta tell th' Captain everythin' after all..._includin' _everythin' 'bout y-"

The tell-tale rumble of the sound tubes interrupted Wan's spiel. They paused to listen, "_Command. All available personnel are ordered to immediately report to the rear section lower deck for a concentrated search. Seven children between ten and twelve years of age with extra-ordinary abilities must be detained by all necessary means. Report immediately. This is an order from the Captain._"

The room was still after the message sounded, as a tense, awkward pause permeated. Wan eyed Sokka closely, asking tersely, "..._seven_ children, spy?" Sokka looked into Wan's eyes with fear, until suddenly dropped to the ground. Wan admitted, "lucky day, boy. Th' guards ain't comin'. Y'better come with me ta help sort out th' mess. I need ta get back ta th' Engine Room anyways, might as well get some extra hands."

"I'll stay here, try to clear up the body and the rest of this mess," Katara decided, treating Wan warily but still grateful their cover hadn't been blown. She leant back down to tend to Toph again.

Sokka straightened himself out and dusted himself off, peering sneeringly into Wan's eye to ask, "okay, you're more than twice my dad's age, and you don't look really muscly, so...how did you do that?"

"Engine oil, son. Engine oil. Better th'n th' olive kind," Wan lead the way out of the door, tugging it harshly to open it up, "soak up 's much 's ye can, boy. But if I have an _inkling _that th' _Gang Shen_'s in trouble cuz of you, th'n I'm gonna reel ya in myself, ye got that?"

"Crystal clear, sir. Crystal clear," Sokka responded bitterly, shutting the door behind himself.

"Men..." Katara commented, concentrating harder on making Toph better. She comforted, "soon as you get better, how about we take a lifeboat ourselves and blow this joint?"

"Good idea," Toph concurred. A silence filled with the cries of crow-gulls out of the open hole in the ship allowed their heads to process some unwelcome facts. The sun and the breeze should have been soothing...comforting...but instead they just illustrated how far away from reality they were, encased in the darkened chamber. Toph sighed uneasily, finally able to start petting Momo, who clustered alongside her. She said quietly, "Katara...I did the best I could..."

"I know." Katara acknowledged, not looking up to face Toph. It wouldn't have meant anything to Toph if she did, but eye contact of any kind wasn't helping Katara cope. Healing was only marginally better. Her hands shifted, "did they say what was going to happen?"

"Nandi said..." Toph gulped, which prompted a round of coughing, and half a minute while she calmed herself enough to deliver the nail-biting news, "...he said...they were going to take him to meet...their 'parents'...I guess they meant the Sha...y'know. They said they'd...'take him to the bottom of the beast'..." Toph paused before the final verdict they'd delivered, "...where he belonged..."

"...okay..." Katara kept concentrating on the healing. The faster it was finished, the faster they could help Aang. But it was hard going. The images, and the guilt, burst through like a pent-up dam. The healing was stalling as her concentration ebbed and her hands became unsteady. She decided to pause, "...I'm sorry...I just need..."

The water flowed back into the pouch, and Katara sat down to steady herself. Her breathing was steady enough, but weighty, as a feeling of foreboding washed over her. She tried to keep herself calm, but it was impossible to go against the flow. She turned away as her eyes teared up, never crying openly but always on the verge, the back of her hand up against her mouth and her eyes bloodshot from too much tragedy in one day. Toph held a hand out to touch Katara's, which was pressed against the ground. Momo purred in collective sadness. They had come too far to lose him again. They couldn't imagine it. The thought of imagining was bringing Katara to the edge. She wouldn't let herself fall over.

She just needed a moment. A moment would be all she needed. The moment stretched to eternity, and the crow-gulls called in indifference.

**To Be Continued…**

_**Avatar: The Last Airbender **_Concept and Characters © Nickelodeon 2005-06

* * *

**Author's Note: **Yup, I'm writing action again. I'm shooting for a kinetic, active style like the detail put into the fight scenes on the show. But it lacks...lyricism, I think. It's not much apart from a description of A to B to C. And if it confuses, then that's especially my fault. I just felt like writing a fight where not everything completely goes in one side's way until the very last moment, and where an awful lot of PHYSICAL VIOLENCE is evident. Nothing bloody though, just rather painful thunks. The T rating is a handy thing to have, but I didn't want to get too excessive...just as excessive as needed.

And on top of all that, I'm starting to tire of all the 'members of Team Avatar running from one corridor to another' scenes. I think I might try to streamline those in the future. It isn't really necessary to detail every step in the way.


	9. The Ascent of Man

"You! Organise a party to search the starboard cargo stores!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

"You! Take your men and watch the passages between Aft Section and the forward sections! I don't want _anyone _coming in or out!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

"You! Gather as many of Xuan's staff as possible and brief them on the state of the mission! I need extra hands to scour all the Pumping Stations!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

"And you! Is there anyone currently idle?"

"Not anymore there isn't, ma'am," Lieutenant Yin reported curtly, hands held together behind his back in an attempt to look authoritative...a hard task when Mayu was around actually _being _authoritative. They stood in a large, square hub surrounded by corridors, above which was a skylight pouring light down above their heads...the same skylight those children had passed through. Mayu was taking personal command of the search, and was accompanied by a quarter-dozen militia and Lieutenant Yin himself, acting as go-between and with his eye on the personnel problem, "but isn't this putting all of our eggs in one basket?We have a skeleton crew on the bridge, a skeleton crew tending to the rest of the ship, and everyone else no matter what their area of expertise is crawling around this part of the ship peeking behind pipes for seven levitating kids, and even this isn't enough."

"If this were a regular warship we wouldn't have this problem," Mayu explained, "but as it stands, we're trying to deal with a deadly threat on a ship nearly as big as the Royal Barge with only two dozen soldiers on board. We need everyone we can. If the passengers stay in the quarters then the other sections won't be too much of a problem. The real problem is right here, in this place."

"I concur, ma'am, but there are other problems besides," Yin took his hands out from behind his back, one holding a scroll which he handed to the Captain, "all crew members have reported to the aft muster points for further instructions...except one. Ensign Xai was last seen in the Forward Port section, close to the quarters that blew out. Should I send a team to investigate?"

Mayu rolled open the scroll and studied it diligently, verifying Yin's report, "once we catch these children, we can indulge in an investigation. We can't spare the manpower." Mayu peered closer to the scroll and raised an eyebrow, "I can't help but notice we've _added _a crew member as well."

"Hmm?" Yin peered over Mayu's shoulder and read the scribbled-in name at the bottom of the scroll, "ah yes, Gameshin. He's a passenger that Wan ran into while he was up on deck getting some fresh air. When the call came through, Gameshin volunteered to help in the Engine Room. I didn't see a reason why he couldn't. Wan vouched for him."

"Wan _voluntarily_ getting some fresh air," Mayu repeated, rolling up the scroll to wave it at Yin, "there is simply deeply wrong with that equation."

"Ask him, ma'am," Yin shrugged, taking the scroll back, "he's the engineer."

"Um...Captain Mayu?" a young woman crew-member, clearly unused to military hierarchy after so long working for the Hong Yu Guo service dealing with customer complaints and making sure the floors were clean. Only after a few seconds of hand-wringing did she remember to salute awkwardly, "th...these people wanted to see you, Captain, sir...ma'am...sir..."

"Why are you doing this to Nandi!?" Kyo stormed past the nervous crew-member and glared accusingly at Mayu, "why're you treating him like a monster!? Nandi would never hurt anyone! How could you _do _this!?"

If Mayu was taken aback, she didn't show it. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, sounding sincere, "no one's treating Nandi like a monster. We have reason to believe he's involved in something that threatens the entire ship, but I want you to understand that we have _not _given up on him. We will do everything we can to get him back. You can see how hard we're trying all around you..."

"Then why is he still missing!?" Kyo was finding it hard to keep her self-control, "why isn't he here if you've got everyone looking for him!? It's not just me. There's five other mothers whose children have gone missing since you started looking for Nandi! Why aren't you stopping it!? _Why!?_"

"Please, madam, we can't make miracles," Mayu calmly pleaded, "I promised to bring your son back, and I intend to keep that promise. Just please let us do our work. The Ensign here will help you back up the Bridge Section, and as soon as we find him, and the others, you'll be the first to know."

"You just expect me to vanish!? I want to find him!" Kyo stepped up and trembled with conflicting emotions.

"You've already helped, more than you even realise," Mayu soothed, "and you can help further by being strong and being there when Nandi comes back. Think you can do that?"

Kyo looked sullen. It wasn't the answer she wanted, but she still nodded and turned back. The Ensign wrapped an arm around her shoulders and escorted her out. The crew-member turned her head around to ask, "and what should I do with the boss?"

Mayu, slightly intrigued by the crew-member's comment, leant to one side to see Xuan looking pensive and uncertain in the corridor Kyo was walking down. Mayu muttered condescendingly, "I'm sure he can find his own way back."

Xuan's face briefly flickered with indignation until Kyo stared him down. He shrank back when Kyo seemed close to taking her frustrations out on him, but the Ensign stepped in quickly enough to soothe her, and walked past. Xuan watched her go with trepidation, and coughed apologetically before he spoke to Mayu, "look...Captain...I realise we haven't exactly seen eye-to-eye on this whole situation..."

"That's an understatement and a half," Yin chimed in.

Xuan continued after a brief, hostile glance at Yin, "I just wanted to say that maybe we don't need to be so opposed to each other. We've complemented each other before. No reason we can't now."

"Yes, there is a reason we can't now," Mayu reminded Xuan, "to deal with this problem we need clear, unified leadership without petty sniping getting in the way. If people are questioning who's in charge, then _no one _is in charge, and that makes our job all the harder. And when faced with the possibility of the ship sinking, making the job harder for ourselves really isn't the way to go."

"I can appreciate that," Xuan negotiated, "I can appreciate that security is what's important. It's what you're good at, what you should have responsibility over. But all I'm saying is that there's no reason we can't _delegate _some things. You may not have noticed, Captain, but this is a passenger vessel. Hundreds of people cowering in their quarters and in the meantime my kitchen staff's been conscripted for this martial law of yours. I don't suppose you've given much thought that our passengers need to _eat_?"

Mayu pointed a stern finger to sharply rebuke Xuan, but paused in mid-pointing to consider, "actually...that's a good point. Yin? How many backup rations are there?"

"Enough for the next 24 hours, ma'am, but that's eating out of the lifeboat stocks," Yin answered, "you want me to break them out?"

"We can distribute them through the ship's cafeteria," Mayu decided, "a few at a time, in order of room number. That shouldn't stretch us too much..."

"You're missing the point!" Xuan accused, "would you have thought of that on your own? Seriously? _You need me! _You may try to deny it, but I'm the one who knows how to treat our customers right! You don't seem to appreciate the level of responsibility that needs to be exercised for their sake."

"I could say the same thing about you, sir," Mayu crossed her arms, "and on top of that you don't appreciate how much this ship is in _serious jeopardy_. Your reaction to all the warnings, no matter what they were, from the very start of this journey has been to stick your head in the sand and hope the problem goes away. Your actions have led directly to this awesome mess we're in. And as the gaping hole in the side of the hull demonstrates, the threat is real, growing, and a clear and present threat to the lives of everyone on board."

"This is rich, you thinking you've got all the answers," Xuan mocked, "you've shut the ship down and scared everyone on board witless! You keep talking about this 'great threat' and you don't even know what it is!"

"You're right. I don't know what it is. And unlike you, I'm _trying to find out_," Mayu exhausted the last threads of her patience, "you don't get how important this is. These circumstances are following the same pattern as all the other attacks on the Mo Ce Sea. _No other ship _has survived these attacks. Which means that unless I get to the root of the problem _right now_, our chances of getting to Naha at all are precisely _nil_. Your 'concern' for our passengers' well-being will be rendered _pointless_. And I am beyond caring about your precious reputation, Hong Yu Guo's quality of service, or even how _I _look at the end of this, because I'm too busy trying to make sure I _see _the end of this. If it wasn't for you and your 'entrepreneurial masterminding' we wouldn't _be _in this mess! Your actions have been height of fecklessness and irresponsibility and what you laughably call 'help' is the _last _thing I need. _Do you get it now!?_" Mayu added angrily for emphasis "_...sir!?_"

Xuan was absolutely livid. No longer content to simply wander off and disappear in a confused haze, he glared hatefully at the Captain with both fists clenched, with no hope of an adequate comeback just staring angrily was the closest he could get. He was unrepentant, but deep down he was completely, utterly terrified. Mayu seemed to calm after a while, evidently moving beyond their feud.

"Civilians should remain in their quarters until further notice, and that includes you," Mayu informed the administrator, "remember the promise I made at the beginning of this journey? As I hope to demonstrate to our Kyo, I'm one person who keeps her promises. So, for your own sake, you'd better hope we find what's responsible for these events."

Xuan seethed, but slowly, and staggeringly, turned around to head into the corridor and back up towards the bridge. Mayu ignored him and turned back to Yin.

"Lieutenant, you'd better sort out the rations," the Captain ordered, beginning to head down another corridor on the far side of the well-lit hub, "we'll be searching in the Air Conditioning Room. Join us once everything's organised and keep me informed of all developments."

"Understood, ma'am..." Yin confirmed hesitantly. Mayu paused in mid-march when she noticed the trepidation in her first officer's voice.

"Something the matter, Lieutenant?" Mayu asked. Yin was hesitant to voice his concerns, but out of obligation decided to air them.

"Kyo...the mother...she said that five other mothers had their children missing, ma'am," Yin offered his opinion, "including Nandi, that makes six children missing. No one else has been reported missing. So...who's the seventh child?"

"One of the children was being bodily carried by another," Mayu remembered, "it may be that they have a hostage. But if no one's been reported..." Mayu drifted off into consideration. She barked at the officer, "carry out your orders, Lieutenant. We'll see where this takes us, and hopefully that won't be the sea-bed."

Yin saluted stiffly and marched quickly down a corridor. Mayu began down the other, followed by the three militia, thinking hard about things, including that extra child that's sprouted up.

* * *

Shui stood there, perplexed. It was one of the most random and out of the blue things she'd ever witnessed Wan do, and if Wan was anything he was a creature of habit. But here it was, definitive proof that no matter how hard she could try, she'd never understand him. This was because Wan was standing there with his arm around Gameshin's shoulder, smiling as if they were the best of pals. With the Engine Room working flat out, steam billowing, engineers cussing, and heavy objects being chucked around like balls in a game of catch, she couldn't just stand there and gawp forever. Instead, she pointed sheepishly at Gameshin and asked Wan, "so...he's working fer us, now?"

"Yup!" Wan confirmed with a wide, forced smile, "praise be ta Our Lady cuz I'm actually taking yer advice fer once...Gameshin here's kindly volunteered ta help us out with our Flank Speed troubles, ain't that right boy? Y'were damned _enthusiastic _when ye told that guard..."

"Eheheh...course I was! I've always wanted to do stuff like this!" Sokka forced a smile of his own back at Wan, leaning over to whisper harshly, "and I had to tell them _something_. It's not like you went to any effort on making up an alibi."

"I was hopin' ye'd slip up. Don'tcha dare think y'impressed me with that display..." Wan whispered in disappointment. He raised his voice for the benefit of Shui, "now don't jus' stand around like ye got nuthin' ta do! Follow me!"

Wan walked past Shui towards a ladder leading up to the left balcony. Shui was still confused, "wait, chief! What's going on with th' ship!? Why're we in 'lockdown'!?"

"Things too hard fer people like us ta think 'bout. Don't bother," Wan called back without looking, "anythin' explode!?"

"Well...yeah!" Shui answered as if it should've been a statement of the bleeding obvious. Sokka jogged past to follow Wan in his tracks.

"Good!" Wan yelled as he climbed, "gives 'im sumthin' ta do!"

Shui watched Sokka as he clambered up the ladder, pitying the poor lad for being dumped with this much work on his first minute on the job. Impulsively, she called, "hey! Gam!"

Sokka paused halfway up the ladder and briefly wondered if she was calling for him. After looking back and figuring out that she was, he asked sheepishly, "why'dja call me that?"

"Easier to say!" Shui shouted above the roar of the furnaces, a sly smile stretching from cheek to cheek, "welcome t'th' team!"

Sokka found himself spontaneously smiling back, "thanks!"

"C'mere, Ravana," Wan grabbed Sokka by the neck of his shirt and jerked him upwards with a strangled yelp.

The great mass of the God of Steel, nestled in the centre of the room, belched and buckled in her hinges. It was her own way of saying 'hi'.

* * *

Lieutenant Yin could spare all of two people to help him stack the trolleys with ration boxes. The small red cardboard rectangles could feed a healthy, fit, young, energetic soldier's needs for 24 hours, and for most of these people that could be stretched out to two days...assuming gorging on Xuan's rubbish hadn't spoilt them. Mayu had a point on the principles of War Economy. They were there for a reason.

The two women, Xuan's attractive assistants, were a lot more useful than he had thought previously. Which was good considering he hadn't anyone else to rely on whatsoever. The front sections were practically deserted, so as soon as the rations were given out he was going to have to rely on the passengers themselves feeling obliged to return peacefully to their quarters without coaxing. Xuan had a point on the principles of customer service. _Those _were there for a reason too.

He didn't know what to think about all this. He wasn't allowed to think. Yin had gathered the impression that if he did think hard about their situation he may just feel the urgent need to throw himself overboard. But thoughts cropped up on him anyway. The Captain was certain the _Gang Shen _was under attack. But who was attacking? And how? The only clue he could consider was the gaping hole in the side of the ship, and they couldn't do anything about it now.

The first officer looked over the scrolls, filled with checklists and technical details. The rations were heading to the cafeteria. The room that was attacked was only a couple of sections forward. When he allowed himself to think...it would've been a dereliction of his duties to _not _investigate if he had the opportunity, surely? He gulped at the possibility, but couldn't escape it.

He checked with the lovely ladies. They were happy with being given responsibility on anything at all, for a change. That left him the opportunity to do some clue-hunting...

* * *

"How do you feel?" Katara asked the blind girl.

"Like I might just live?" Toph answered as honestly as she could, with a dash of bleak wit on the side. Her aching bruises ached a lot less, and she felt able to lift her own limbs with ease, but moving a few muscles still made her wince. Her senses were a lot less fuzzy now, much clearer, and much more able to tell the approximate shapes around her through the reflections of sound that bounced off the surfaces, coming through the ship from the engine. It was gratifying, but still unnerving, when she felt out around the room. Everything was wet, and out of place, torn and stretched and unstable. And she could hear a place that didn't ripple from the puddles, a place in the centre of the floor where a large amorphous lump absorbed whatever sound frequencies there were with its irregular, soft surfaces. She shivered when she considered it, knowing what it was. Whatever her state of affairs, even if she wasn't ready...she wanted to get out of this room. She continued, "able to move, anyway."

"Good," Katara answered shortly, flowing the pool of water away from above her body and back into her pouch, definitively ending the healing process. Toph could tell she was looking for an excuse to stop and get on with looking for Aang. The Waterbender leaned in and held Toph by the arm, asking carefully, "now...when they said they were taking him down to the bottom...they did mean the bottom of the _ship_, didn't they?"

"What else could they have meant?" Toph remarked. In the pause that followed, Toph could feel an angry tension, and didn't need to see Katara's expression to know that what she just said was probably not the smartest thing to say given the circumstances. Under the wrathful gaze, Toph grunted, "okay...yeah...they probably meant they were taking Aang to the lowest deck on the ship..."

* * *

"I seen grandmothers twist bolts better th'n that, sonny!" Wan condemned without even looking in Sokka's direction, occupied by the panel of piping in the wall in front of him.

Sokka had gotten sweaty after the first minute working under Wan's abusive work regimen. After the first five of trying to twist a bolt that had long since fused with the rest of the ship, he was beginning to suspect that most of his body water was now outside his body. Straining and grunting with badly-repressed rage, Sokka muttered, "if grannies had acid for hand lotion, I might just believe that."

"Awwww...baby wanna nap?" Wan cooed, "if ye can't stand th' heat...well...ye can't get outta th' kitchen so that sucks fer you."

"Do you treat _all_ your people this way?" Sokka asked, glancing right.

"Nope," Wan answered without a second thought. As if a Water Tribe spy could expect the merest morsel of sympathy and concern. Sokka grunted, and rubbed the front of his neck, still sore from being half-strangled.

"Y'know," Sokka ventured, "you didn't _have _to tear my neck off earlier..."

"Yes I did," Wan asserted, still not looking Sokka in the eye, "keepin' yer sorry carcass away fr'm possible victims of yer manly charms."

"Will you _stop _with that already?" Sokka moaned, twisting the bolt a tenth of an inch more in frustration, "and what the heck's a 'Ravana', anyway?"

"He was an ol', mythic, lovesick puppy," Wan explained, stretching an arm in Sokka's direction, "stole a guy's wife once. Hand me th' Number 3 Screwdriver."

Sokka, grasping that Wan wasn't making a request, delved into the toolbox beside him for something that looked like a Number 3 Screwdriver. Guessing it to be some random metal tool, he took it out the box and handed the thing end to Wan. The Chief Engineer paused in his work to look thoughtfully at the tool, then at Sokka, and used the tool to thwack Sokka harshly in the back of his head. Wan exploded, "I said th' _Number 3 _Screwdriver ye dumb rhino-brained moron!"

Sokka cowered, "I don't know the...!" The Warrior looked panickly through the toolbox, gave up, and in frustration picked up the whole heavy thing and clunked it loudly next to Wan, "get it yourself if you're so smart!"

Wan peered through the box just as thoughtfully as before, carefully picked out the Number 3 Screwdriver, held it as if gauging its weight, looked at Sokka again and thwacked him in the head even more harshly than the first time. The engineer kept hold of the screwdriver and used it on the panel as if nothing had happened, "y'know, fer a guy that's supposed ta know his machines, ye don't know nuthin' 'bout runnin' 'em."

"Yeah, well, I grew up in a block of ice and I still got better grammar than you..." Sokka complained, rubbing the back of his head to keep it from splitting into chunks, "and I don't get all paranoid at the drop of a screw."

"I didn't like ya _before_ I knew ye was Water Tribe," Wan protested, turning to Sokka to argue his case, "given that, I think I got a pretty keen sense'a who's good an' who's not. 'specially parasites 'a young girls like you."

"_I. Am. Already. Involved. With. Someone. Else!_" Sokka threw the spanner down to accentuate the point, turning to Wan in challenge. Cooling down marginally, he picked up the spanner and began working again to distract himself, "whaddya want me to do? Draw a diagram out of my own blood?"

"Well..._who_?" Wan gesticulated, "if ye're not scumming 'round, prove it."

Sokka paused and sighed irritably. He closed his eyes in thought, "don't matter much now, does it? She's a Warrior too. Comes from an island in the south. Her name's Suki and she's clever and beautiful and all those great things loves of our lives should be. That enough detail?"

"If she's a warrior too, why ain't she with ya?" Wan queried, "d'ye keep her in a jar 'r sumthin'? Where is she?"

Sokka stopped twisting the bolt altogether, and contemplated, "that's what I'd like to know."

"She disappeared?" Wan concluded. Sokka nodded.

"I think the Fire Nation captured her. If I can get there, I can..." Sokka was cut off by an eruption of guffawing on Wan's part. Sokka took disgust at the attitude, "what's so funny!?"

Wan let his uncontrollable chuckling run its course, and sighed happily as he wiped a tear from his eye. "Ye're adorable, y'know that?" Wan mocked, "comin' all this way jus' ta see a girl. I bet ye've only even met her once..."

"..._twice_, actually!" Sokka challenged, immediately regretting telling the big lummox anything about his personal life.

"Yeah, I'm sure it'll last," Wan joked, "ye c'n go on walks, share a meal an' blow up my country t'gether. Real strong foundations."

Sokka stopped wandering into the engineer's traps. It was obvious that appealing to Wan's humanity was like asking Momo to look deep into his heart and find the common decency to not eat the last lychii nut in the bag. You couldn't appeal to something that wasn't there. The undercover Warrior drawled, "so d'you believe me now? I already got a girlfriend."

"Sure. Sure. Pass me th' drill," Wan requested distractedly, having lost all interest in the conversation and gone back to the panel of pipes. Sokka, grateful for the displaced attention, nevertheless felt a pang of unease when he scoured through the toolbox for a drill-shaped object. He soon found a hand-operated drill-like contraption, and immediately thought of how unbearably painful being hit over the head with it would be. Sokka defensively winced as he handed it over to Wan. The engineer looked at it carefully and began using it without fanfare, "good. Ye're learning. Go on like this an' I might even feel bad ta see ya executed."

"I help you out, save your life and do your job for free and you're _still _gonna turn me in?" Sokka spoke with incredulity, returning to his bolt-tightening.

"It's th' duty of every Fire Nation citizen ta act with th' Nation an' its people in mind!" Wan recited by heart, "an' its in th' interests of th' Nation an' th' people that I keeps ya grubby Water Tribe mitts off my ship an' off my team-mates. Weaseling inta gullible people's trust is th' kinda thing you parasites do, an' I wanna set an example to th' others so they don't trust ye either."

"Shui especially, I noticed," Sokka muttered, "what is it with you and Shui anyway? Why're you so protective of her? Far as I can tell you're not even related."

"She got no one else," Wan didn't pause once in all the exposition, "lemme tell ya a story. One smoggy day in th' port city of Puye, some homeless schmucks were picking salvage up offa th' seafront when they saw a wreck of a raft drift in. Dead man, dead woman an' a baby girl wrapped in a shawl screamin' 'er lungs out. Th' girl grew up in th' slums, tryin' ta make ends meet, but first chance she got she stowed away on a cargo ship. No one else wanted ta deal with 'er, I needed some help getting' under th' engine ta tighten some screws, an' the rest is history."

"...did she know?" Sokka looked behind himself to see Shui leaping up over a balcony edge and hanging down to fix a loose panel upside-down.

"Folks that adopted 'er told 'er, soon as she was old enough," Wan elaborated, "she ran away th' next day. She says they was good people, an' I believe 'er. Kid's been brought up good."

"So...wait..." Sokka turned back, "...if her parents died out at sea, why does she want to join the Fire Navy so bad?"

"That's easy 'nough," Wan tapped a long tool with a hammer, concentrating on the panel even when telling a story, "she got some romantic idea of her folks being great sailors. Hero worship, sorta. Wanted ta follow in their footsteps. Ye wouldn't get it."

"I _do _get it, thanks for asking," Sokka, son of Hakoda of the Water Tribe, got the concept better than most people. Sokka was starting to suspect he was intruding on things it was better not knowing about, and redirected the question, "so...what's you're story, then?"

"...me!? I _am _following in my folks' footsteps. I need a smaller hammer," Wan held out the hammer he'd be using, which Sokka gingerly replaced with another hammer two sizes down. Wan eyed it up before returning to work, "that'll do it. My daddy was an engineer, my grand-daddy was engineer...my family must've built half th' Fire Nation."

"Ahh...family business," Sokka noted knowingly, "that's great, having something to call your own. Is it fun?"

Wan paused to look Sokka over, a firm grimace etched into his aged face, "does it _look _like I'm havin' fun?"

Sokka shook his head sagely, "no, it doesn't. Ever thought about trying something else?"

"Don't matter what I think," Wan returned to his work, "I got a duty ta build, fix, refit an' generally tweak th' world inta sumthin' else. An' I think I'm pretty good at it."

"'Tweak the world'? That's one ambitious mission statement," Sokka commented.

"It ain't a mission statement, it's what I do," Wan pointed out, "th' God of Steel chose me ta spread th' word of iron an' attend t'er every fickle whim, an' it ain't my place ta question 'er judgement."

Sokka had reached the limit of indulging this nonsense and decided now was as good a time as any for a confrontation. He dared to lay down his tools and challenge, "see, I really don't understand you. You're a down-to-earth, practical, grumpy sorta guy who doesn't like authority, doesn't take fools gladly and likes nothing better than to make himself miserable. But you come up with something like the 'God of Steel', and...I have _never _come across that. I been travelling a lot, all over the place, but I never seen anyone call a piece of machinery a higher being." Sokka worked it through, "and then you say you're a patriot. That's nice...really...even if you're country is _evil _and everything, but when you see something disturbing and wrong, instead of helping the powers that be around here...like patriots are _supposed _to do...you skulk about and try to sort things out yourself. Like you're _ashamed _of spirits attacking the ship or something, or you don't want to admit it."

"I ain't _ashamed _'o nuthin'," Wan asserted, "I'm obligated ta protect My Lady, an' that's just what I'm doing, _my_ way. Any o' my other folks woulda done th' same thing."

"Come on!" Sokka argued, "just cuz your family are all mechanics don't mean _you _have to be. Sure, since you're about five times my age, it's probably a little late now, but think about it...if your 'folks' built half the Fire Nation, including the railroad over the Yalu River, then that would make this whole thing your people's fault. And for what? Not sure you looked around lately, but this place ain't exactly paradise on Earth, is it?"

Wan stopped suddenly, and stared fitfully at the mess of metal piping in front of him, unspeaking. Sokka was wondering if this was some new build-up to an explosion, but when he looked closer at the engineer's face he realised that he really had struck a nerve. The situation came together in Sokka's mind, and he realised the source of Wan's discomfort. Now it was Sokka's turn to guffaw. It had been so simple the whole time that Sokka found laughing out loud at the trap Wan had thrown himself into immensely satisfying. Wan peered across, embarrassed and annoyed, "I don't see th' joke, boy."

"That's it! That's the reason for all this 'God of Steel' nonsense! You don't wanna admit that all this stuff, your life's _entire _work, is being used to make monsters. So you pretend it's being used to make _gods_ instead," Sokka stood straight upright to deliver his verdict, pleased beyond measure about how smart he was, "Shui there said you Fire Nation make gods out of rocks and vines. And y'know what? There probably are gods of rocks and vines. I think I might've met a couple...got kidnapped by a forest spirit once, actually. And then there's these spirits of rivers tearing us a new rear. But that's the thing, we can _see _them, _talk _to them. Sticking all the mumbo-jumbo to one side, I can't see me talking to _that_."

Sokka pointed at the God of Steel herself, rumbling and thumping and bursting a couple of its own pipes in protest at being pointed at. Wan looked at the engine and back at Sokka, humouring, "y'so sure 'bout that? Seems mighty clear ta me."

"I like to think of spirits as normal creatures with spooky stuff lingering 'round 'em," Sokka leaned back on the balcony, "no point _worshipping_ them, but no point making them angry either. Live and let live, that sorta thing. So there's no point killing a whole load of them just cuz another load of them tell you to. Building stuff over, stacking things high, pulling clumps outta the ground to feed your war machines...what's the point of it? Really? It's not like it makes living any nicer, just grey fields, grey skies, grey buildings, grey _people _and armies of ghosts descending on you every weekend. What's the benefit?"

"It's progress!" Wan shrugged, "ye can't stop progress! Though you Water Tribe scumbags have a knack fer trying."

"I like progress! I'm very pro-progress, me," Sokka counter-argued, "but I actually like my progress..._progressive_, y'know?As in...better lives, smarter people, bare minimum of soldiers running 'round pillaging things, easier living, nice sunny days and starry nights, all that stuff. I think 'progress' and I don't think 'up to my eyeballs in soot'. And I sure as heck don't think of the 'God of Steel' over there."

This time it was Wan smiling, mischievously. While wondering what mistake he'd made, Wan took Sokka round the shoulders and had a heart-to-heart chat, "spy...lemme ask ye sumthin'. What _is _'progress'? Really? Deep down? What is it?"

Sokka ummed and ahhed, and came up with a stopgap answer, "improving things?"

"Why?" Wan asked further. He'd versed himself in mechanical theology enough to debate certain things.

Sokka shrugged, "I dunno...'cause they're sucky as they are?"

"An' who says they're sucky?" Wan asked finally.

Sokka winced and thought hard, getting irritated the questioning, the stifling heat, the deafening noises and Wan's firm grip on his shoulder, "well...egh...just...just..._people!_"

"Good answer," Wan smiled, "that's right. People, men, humankind, us, we...nature goes on fer thousands 'n thousands...maybe millions 'o years jus' being all...'natural'. Not a care in th' world, jus' there, content 'n relaxed. Th'n we crawl along, our single species, 'n we say, 'this sucks! Let's make it better!' An' we do, cuz we're human beings an' we can do great 'n impossible things."

"I didn't ask for a history lesson, grandpa," Sokka complained.

"Well tough, cuz ye're getting' one," Wan continued, "nature is cuz nature is, until that nature is human. We don't try ta find heat in th' cold, we make our _own _heat! We don't try ta find shelter from th' rain, we make our _own _shelter! We don't grow fur, so we steal something elses'. We don't hunt prey, but grow it t'order. Our way's blocked, so we build a new one. We don't like nature as it is, so we change it inta sumthin' else. That's progress."

"What's this got to do with the God of Steel?" Sokka asked.

"Cuz even when we're busy tweaking things an' doing things we shouldn't, we feel guilty," Wan espoused, "so we got th' gods, naggin' us all th' time fer being human. They'll never be pleased an' they'll never be satisfied, cuz they're nature an' we're not. It's a weird thing we are, Water Tribe. Our _nature_ is ta be _unnatural. _Take bending, fer instance. What th' heck's 'natural' 'bout that? Some animals do it, but we take it, learn ways ta mimic it, change ourselves ta do it, an' build houses an' smelt swords with it. It ain't sumthin' we should do, but it's like breathing ta some people. Ye wanna see what progress does? Progress is jus' what humans_ do._ We've been doing it from th' beginning. Our whole makeup makes it impossible fer us 'n nature ta be best buddies. When it comes right down to it, at th' end, there ain't no compromise, no balancing act, no co-operation. It's us or them, we can't live on th' same planet, an' some of us don't accept that. We see what we do, how we mould th' world in our image, an' we gets cold feet. That's where gods come in. Our gods want us ta be animals again, but in ways that animals would be freaked out by."

Wan turned, and both he and Sokka faced the God of Steel, working flat out to keep the ship at flank speed. His chest swelled with pride, "but not th' God of Steel. Nuthin' natural 'bout her. Pure, 100 human in every way. She wants change, an' submission, an' everythin' life c'n give 'er. Nuthin' 'bout making lives better, or peace of mind, or any o' that waffle. All she wants is ta grow, th' highest product of humanity, taken from th' earth, boiling water, holding fire an' belching smoke. _This _is what humanity is, what we'll turn th' whole world into, even without trying. Th' Avatar was everythin' that was wrong with that old way o' thinking, that there are limits ta what we c'n do. Now he's dead, we no longer need ta be hypocrites. _This _is what th' future is, what th' whole world will be like, an' I'm gonna gladly serve th' first god of men."

Sokka struggled against the affectionate arm-lock, but felt compelled to speak his mind, "I was once face-to-face with a guy who wanted to kill the moon, but that's _nowhere near _as insane as what you just said."

Wan, still smiling from his spontaneous sermon, looked down at Sokka and asked curtly, "did I say ye could stop?"

"...no..." Sokka answered pitifully. He was quickly swivelled around, pushed down and planted painfully on his knees, back in front of the row of bolts he was screwing tight.

"I gave ya ten minutes ta do those bolts," Wan castigated, "now ye got three. Make th' most of it."

Sokka grumbled and set about twisting sealed bolts in a third of time that was needed. He was thankfully interrupted by the sound of bare feet slamming lightly onto the balcony surface, the feet of someone who could travel across the room without once touching the ground. Sokka looked up at Shui as she asked Wan, "hey...I need someone ta help me with th' pumping system...it's kinda hard squeezing in 'n checkin' th' controls at th' same time. C'n I jus' pinch Gam fer a moment?"

Sokka looked back at Wan, who looked back at Sokka suspiciously. They communicated silently, in no uncertain terms, that anything more than friendly bonding was going to result in being chucked into the pumping system while it was still on. Wan spoke without much enthusiasm, "sure. Plenty'a 'Gam' ta go round. Ain't that right?"

"Absolutely!" Sokka nodded urgently, planting the spanner on the ground to stand up and follow Shui down the ladder. A loud knocking from behind made Sokka turn back. Wan was thumping Sokka's discarded spanner loudly against the balcony and holding it up to Sokka's chest.

"Never, _ever_, leave yer spanner behind, boy!" Wan chastised, "in this place, it's as much a part'a yer body as yer kidneys. Got it!?"

Sokka was momentarily shocked solid at the outburst, but recovered quickly, grabbing the spanner and nodding affirmatively. Shui was already sliding effortlessly down the ladder while Sokka was just stepping on. Wan, half-kneeling, watched the two young'uns head off before he turned towards the engine once again, soaking up all the juice he could give her and dishing it out in spades. It felt good to preach, but in the act of doing so, more questions occurred to him. He was starting to think that the encounter with these river spirits may well be the start of the last battle between humanity and nature. It was exciting and everything...but did it have to be so soon?

The God of Steel voiced her own opinion with a buckling plate bursting forth steam. Wan groaned and picked himself up, spanner in hand, "okay, My Lady, I get th' picture..._who put that plate t'gether!? C'mon, people, c'mon! Wakey wakey! Get those clamps out 'n get me th' stapler! Move it, move it!_"

**To Be Continued…**

_**Avatar: The Last Airbender **_Concept and Characters © Nickelodeon 2005-06

* * *

**Author's Note: **A lot of Wan/Sokka interaction this part. It seemed like a good time to finally explain what this 'God of Steel' gobbledygook was about. If you don't quite follow the philosophy, then that's fine. Sokka doesn't get it either. And Sokka's smarter than me.

Next part: Aang converses with the Children of the Damned and we take another peek at the Machiavellian goings-on in Nagaoka Prefecture, Fire Nation. Stay tuned!


	10. Obsolescence

Yin breathed slowly to steady his nerves. At least now he knew what had happened to Ensign Xai.

He stood in the vast puddle that dampened what was left of the room, empty except for the crumpled body in the centre. He couldn't spare the manpower to give the man a decent sending off, but at the very least he made an effort to lean down and lay him out in a way that gave him some dignity in death. As he pulled a limp arm over, a scroll splatted onto the floor. The first officer paused, but continued to lay Xai's body straight with arms crossed across his chest, which would do until a funeral pyre could be arranged. It was customary for a sailor's ashes to be flung into the sea. Yin wasn't sure that was what Xai wanted, but he didn't have the luxury of time to check.

Yin stood up and walked around the crewman's body, leaning down to pick up the dripping scroll. Inspecting it, a lot of the names were smudged. All the information he could gleam from the blotches that used to be calligraphy that applied to this room were the words 'two passengers unaccounted for'. The names given were indecipherable. The crewman was carrying out the Captain's headcount and eminently surprised someone. Maybe even the ones behind this.

Yin looked around the room, open to the elements now there was a massive hole in it, cooling rapidly from being in the shade as the sun drew down on the other side. There was no _maybe _about it. Xai's death was senseless, but if the records for the room revealed anything, then maybe it wouldn't have been in vain. If he could find out who was behind all this, he could put a stop to it. If he just knew where they were...

* * *

Aang was getting tired of being unconscious. It was getting old hat by now. The slow, gradual phasing in of tactile sensation was a familiar and exhausting ritual, letting the sounds of clanking and spitting, the smell of oil and salt, the touch of grime and iron, the sense of up and down, and the taste of dust and grit drift into consciousness. Sight was harder to grasp, and Aang was wondering if he was losing his vision or if the world really was this dark. What disappointed him the most was that the first thing he saw wasn't Katara's smile...his first physical feeling was the shiver running down his spine when he saw the thing that _was _smiling before him. The first thing he saw had an empty, almost kindly grin, a face as pale as a full moon and glistening with wetness, a mop of messy hair and a massive bulging vein across his forehead. Five others stood behind him, the same expressions, the same half-dragging stances, the same emptiness. The dolls that used to be children stared at him in what looked like enraptured fascination.

Nandi looked straight through him, and giggled.

"Wh...what are you..." Aang managed to squeeze out of his vocal chords. The others joined in the giggling, and the echo they made prompted Aang to look up at where he was...inside a massive chamber, vaulted high above like a temple, long and narrow as the walls tapered down to the floor, every square inch filled with one contraption or another. It was full of machinery, but in a distant sort of way. There was no frenetic activity here...only a kind of deadness. A dark, dreary absence of life, permeated through by the glistening of steel surfaces and random bulbous objects that could only be seen through shadow. He tugged at his hands, tied behind a pillar of piping with thin wire, raised above the ground thanks to the other round of wire tied around his bare ankles. Even if he could try to squeeze his way out of his restraints, he wasn't too eager to try.

And they wouldn't stop giggling.

"Stop it!" Aang snapped, as the constant convulsions of sound were freaking him out beyond all reason. Nandi slowly stopped giggling.

"That's right, Avatar. Tell us to stop," Nandi spoke distantly, "tell our mothers and fathers to stop. You wouldn't dare tell they who murdered our brothers and sisters to stop. We told them stop. We screamed at them to stop. But they didn't listen to us. So we're not gonna listen to you."

The giggling carried along, more quietly, but always present. Aang was still not entirely awake, and walking into obvious pitfalls, asking "how did you know I'm the Avatar?"

"Spirits don't know lies," Nandi revealed, "the family watches all of us. They can feel the blood that pumps through your veins. They saw through us, saw the agony of the world spirit, and knew you were here. They've all come to see the end of the one who betrayed the Shachihoko."

"Betrayed the..." Aang mouthed, "I'd never betray anyone!"

"Our cousins would call you a fibber if they weren't squished under foundation stones," Niu counter-argued.

"You promised our mothers and fathers," Bao joined in, "hundreds of years ago, you promised you would protect the sanctity of our home. The safety of their young. 'From the ravages of mankind', you promised. You didn't mean it. You lied to us."

"But that was in a _past life_!" Aang defended, "gimme a break! I barely knew you people _existed _until today. You were...I...I got so many things to do! Hundred year wars! Comet! And I can't bend anymore! Just...so many things. So...I'm sorry I wasn't there to help you. But I didn't know! I'm sorry!"

"The Avatar says he's sorry even when he means nothing," Ju added, a slender trace of bitterness caught in the undercurrent, "dumb excuses. Skipping round the truth. He could've stopped it long ago, but didn't."

"But y'know..." Tai revealed some unexpected wisdom, "these humans don't see time the way we do. They can't see beyond themselves. Their spirits are trapped and cold. He couldn't've known of us, or his promise."

"But he's not just a human," Ya slyly pointed out. Aang was getting desperate enough to begin trying to slip out of his restraints. It was futile, but he just wanted to get away from these things...and the uncomfortable truth they brought. Ya explained, "he's the Avatar. The one who crossed the divide, who knew what it meant to be nature, beyond what little men can do. But he didn't wanna. It was his choice, and he made it again and again, putting himself before the planet. Only when his selfishness brings him to death and back does he realise the spirit's there. Only when his spirit faces obliteration does he wanna take care of it. We can't forgive his betrayal. He ain't worthy to be the kind of thing he is."

"It's not our place to judge," Nandi said simply. Their gazes remained fixed, passing straight through Aang's head, "our elders will judge him, and everyone else."

Aang ceased his efforts to escape, which brought him only sore wrists and terrified restlessness. He tried to reason with them, "but they're innocent! You can't condemn them like this!"

"They travel on iron and coal, ripped from the earth and blackening the water, and you call them innocent?" Niu argued, "humans upset the balance just by existing."

"Still, we wanna be realistic," Nandi interjected, "our new family can't hope to take on the entire human race. You've already won, as good as. All we want is what you took from us."

"You took our brothers and sisters," Bao spoke in turn, "so our new mothers and fathers will have us to take their place."

"It's only fair," Ju contributed.

"That's crazy!" Aang shouted at the lot of them, stretching forward to get closer to them, "you can't just take someone else's kids when you lose your own! You're not even real children! You're just puppets! Replacements! That's no way to treat a kid!You've already suffered! Why make others suffer for someone else's mistakes!?"

"You call it a 'mistake' when we're condemned to die out to make journeys for you people an ickle shorter?" Nandi elaborated, "d'you know what it feels like to know you have no future?"

Aang looked in desperation at the children. No change of expression so much as flickered in their faces. He thought of Nandi's words, and looked down sadly at the thought of what he left behind, "yes...yes I do."

"So how do you feel?" Nandi probed.

Aang looked up slightly to remember, back when he first learnt the truth in the Southern Air Temple, "...hurt. Angry. Shame. Guilt. I miss them all. But...I think I've come to terms with it. I've found a new family, and I know what I have to do to set things right. I know they're not coming back. I've accepted that much. Something else will take their place eventually, but it won't be the same. There won't be any more Air Nomads."

The children were silent. Listening intently to the Avatar's words. Nandi spoke, "you know loss, Avatar, and so do we. We've found a new family too, and we know how to set things right, too. But we can't accept our extinction. We can't let something else take our place. That's our difference, Avatar. We don't give up."

"I don't give up..." Aang muttered angrily. He was becoming aware of a growing exhaustion creeping in around the edges of his consciousness. Different from the grogginess of waking up earlier. This exhaustion had weight and momentum. It grew on him, a bit at a time, "I didn't give up! I haven't run away! You're the ones running away! You can't make things the way they were! The world doesn't work that way."

"You? Know how the world works?" Nandi scorned.

"Things change. Nothing ever stays the same," Aang spoke mournfully, "but we can protect what we have! Just making more destruction hurts everyone, including yourselves."

"Why didn't you protect us?" Nandi asked. Aang strained against his restraints again.

"_Because I couldn't!_" Aang protested, "I told you! I can't bend anymore! I need to learn Firebending to help me get my Avatar powers back!"

"Powers..." the childish giggling increased in crescendo, before dying down. It never went away. Nandi decided "that just goes to show...you really are unworthy of being the divine medium. If y'think of your spirit...your very _self_...as just a collection of powers. Your spirit's tired, Avatar. Exhausted from just existing. Trapped in its shell for millennia, it longs for non-existence, for the joy of merging with the rest of life."

"I...don't know...what you're talking about..." Aang strained harder against the wire, depleting his energy in the effort.

"You do know. You've felt it for a while," Nandi explained, "we can sense it, because deep down we're the same, Avatar. Spirits in mortal form. We're both weak, but the Shachihoko won't just roll over. We're more important than anyone wants to know, and we'll survive, using the humans who don't feel like using us any longer. But you, Avatar, don't serve a purpose anymore. Your job was to protect the balance. You gave up that job, and now you, and all of us, have paid the price. The balance is gone. You, Avatar, will go with it. We'll finish what the world-ender started, even if she finishes us."

Aang slumped forward, exhausted from his efforts to escape. The children walked away from the pipe Aang was tied to, each of them picking up a sledgehammer laid carefully against the hull. The sledgehammers were of a weight that should have been near impossible for the kids to wield, but those kinds of considerations were fast vanishing from his fuzzy, blurry mind. He recalled a word Nandi said, "...world-ender...?"

"To the spirits, past and future are just words. We know who was the death of you, and she'll be the death of everything," Nandi stepped back, and the other children walked up to the sides of the hull, "but she's made our job easier. It's less trouble to kill someone who's already dead."

Ju raised a sledgehammer and gleefully piled it into the hull. The force made a huge indentation, which soon spurted seawater into the metal cavern. The sledgehammer disintegrated from the force of the impact. Nandi smiled more widely, "kinda ironic really, being killed _by _people that're already dead."

Bao piledrived his own sledgehammer, bringing forth another plume of water. Aang could feel cool mist against his skin, but it still felt distant and unreal, somehow. Nandi shrugged, "well...it _would_ be ironic, 'cept we're not gonna be the ones doing it. It's not our place to judge, y'see."

Niu and Tai punctured their own holes in the sides, and a vast puddle began to pool at the bottom of the _Gang Shen_. Nandi grinned honestly, hand on hip, looking playful as he explained, "after all, we weren't there when our home was bulldozed. And anyway, we got stuff to do, so we'll just leave it to the grown-ups."

Aang blinked slowly, thought processes slowing down precipitously. He felt completely impotent, barely able to ask real questions. All he could do was sway slightly and ask, "...grown-ups?" He didn't jump as he witnessed Ya taking another chunk out of the keel.

Nandi giggled playfully, a convulsive display that dissipated soon after, "you'll be meeting them soon."

The other kids had stopped to look. Aang looked down, thinking of how many people...the entire world...he was failing at that moment. These things had a grievance, and they wouldn't listen to better ways to deal with it. What better ways were there? What could you do when your race had been wiped out? Aang thought he was doing the right thing...he was sure of it...but if it weren't for him, so many people would still be alive. These creatures would have had a home and young to look after. It was his fault. What reasons he'd held to comfort himself that it really wasn't, that things were supposed to be this way, melted under pressure.

Aang broke down. He slumped even more in his restraints and screwed his eyes shut to stop the tears from flowing. Nothing he did made a difference. He was just one kid. What could he do? What more could he do to satisfy these things? To stop them from killing? If he gave himself up, would they leave his friends alone? That wouldn't be enough for them. He sniffed, stopping himself from sobbing. He couldn't think of a way to stop them. He was responsible, but he couldn't fix it. He couldn't fix anything. So why did he have to be down here? What more could he do? His breath strangled itself, the darkness encroached from the edges, and he pleaded, quietly, "...what do you want from me..."

Nandi's smile faded, and he looked almost sympathetic, "that's for our mothers and fathers to decide. If you're smart, you might just figure out what they're gonna say, and save them the trouble."

Nandi turned his back and walked away from Aang, leaving him tied at the bottom of the ship, with water gushing in from both sides. It would take an age for it to fill up at this rate, but the Shachihoko were patient in their vengeance. Ridding the world of the Avatar, the great betrayer, forever. That was something to savour.

Aang sobbed softly, barely able to put any effort into that. He couldn't handle it anymore, the pressures and the guilt and the great effort of being the Avatar. He could feel it, the weight of millennia pressed into his slight young body. Now the millennia were bundled up with him, weakened and fragmented and diminished. Nandi was right, he no longer had any use. He was useless as he was, but even as a full Avatar he couldn't stop things from falling apart. The balance was beyond repair. If Azula was the world-ender...and he wouldn't have been surprised...it was just making certain what was probable anyway. The world was ending, and he could feel it dying all around him.

It was an auspicious place. Here at the bottom of the God of Steel, the works of nature flowing in to bring the works of man down with them. The metal cavern was filled with the sounds of echoing splashes, the coldness of the Mo Ce Sea enveloping the coldness of iron. The room was dark, and getting darker. Aang didn't want to be here anymore, this cold, dark, wet harbinger of the future. He had no place in it. He wasn't anything here. Was what Nandi said true? About being trapped in his body? Endlessly reincarnating and being cut off from the rest of life? If he was trapped, and cold, and useless...the thought of being with the rest of life sounded very attractive. His sobs quietened as he reflected on it, on being somewhere else, where he was no longer alone, no longer encumbered by the effort of being himself over the course of centuries.

The laughter came again, not the childish giggling of the children, but the genuinely happy laughter of a life that was complete and total. He went forward to meet it, and his crying ceased entirely. His body slackened against the restraints, and darkness overcame him once more.

* * *

The sun was beginning to skim the mountain horizon. It would continue doing so for some time, in the long summer days, but Azula was treading steps down to a place where day and night held no meaning. She'd left the Royal Guard to stand to attention with nothing except the stunning imagery of the highlands of Nagaoka Prefecture to keep them company. Questions of their well-being never crossed her mind. The Royal Guards were practically mandated by divine convention to not get tired.

The air above her head was filled with starry dust, illuminated by the sunlight pouring through into the stairway. Azula walked down into the cellar, already ensconced in darkness, stopping just short of a large metal door. The cellar was originally intended for storing wine, a valuable commodity that came mostly from the Earth Kingdom, but it fell into disuse as the realisation crept in that the Princess for whom the retreat was built had scant little interest in intoxicants of any sort, no matter how mild or sociable. She'd kept it aside in anticipation of other possible uses, and conveniently enough one had just appeared.

She had ordered the door locked, so she rapped it firmly and stepped back. The door didn't budge. She waited for a few patient seconds but no sign of activity came forth. She coughed loudly. A second later the door flung over and a Dai Li agent bowed reverentially as she passed. She paid him no attention whatsoever. The cellar's various chambers had been refitted with imposing stone doors, and a long corridor had effectively formed as a result. The Fire Princess spotted another Dai Li running ahead of her to some other part of this ad hoc complex.

"Apologies, Your Majesty," the bowed Dai Li agent expressed, "we will inform Long Feng of your arrival immediately."

"Apologies are pointless without corrective action. Make sure that doesn't happen again," Azula said distractedly. The corridors were lit with gem stones...Azula made a mental note of finding out where Long Feng got them...which gave the place an ethereal green glow. She found her way around easily enough, so that by the time Long Feng rushed out to meet her she was already almost outside the main 'office'. The Grand Secretary made a short respectful bow.

"The equipment has arrived and been assembled, Your Majesty," Long Feng recognised what the Fire Princess wanted to hear, "we have adapted it as per your instructions, for use in metal environments, and it can be moved elsewhere at very short notice. I trust this meets your expectations?"

Azula was only half-interested in Long Feng's words, and turned back at the now-shut entrance door to ask, "do you have a system in place for determining security access that I'm not aware of?"

"Ah yes," Long Feng explained, "apart from a handful of important dignitaries...yourself included...the Dai Li use a complicated system of phrases and passcodes to identify their security level. Prospective agents in training learn it by rote from an early age and it forms an important part of their upbri-"

"Find a better system," Azula interrupted. She'd always found security measures like passcodes, secret handshakes and special doorknocks to be inane and childish, and made her attitude towards such clique-like indulgences incredibly clear. She explained, "you might find it easier to hide something important by keeping it in plain sight."

Long Feng had run his operation for a good portion of his life, and didn't take very well to being lectured to about his own profession. Sensibly enough, he kept much of this opinion to himself, although one particular instance of hypocrisy stood out like a sore thumb, "Base 77 is hardly in plain sight..."

Rather than enact Long Feng's immediate and unconditional execution by searing blue fire, Azula just smiled like a cat taking its time admiring the juicy catch flailing wildly between her claws. The Fire Princess cocked a shining bronze eye at Long Feng, "maybe I don't want to hide it."

Long Feng fell back from the glare, wisely keeping his distance from the Fire Lord's favourite child. He collected himself with a cough and asked politely, "you told us we might be expecting visitors?"

"Make that a definite," Azula clarified, "one visitor, to be precise. I think it's high time you showed me a reason to be _impressed _with your little organisation."

"Indeed," Long Feng smiled. No matter what her opinion on doorknocks and handshakes, he was fully preparing to pull out all the stops to show the Fire Princess what his people were capable of. He stretched an arm out to the nearest door, "this way to the Observation Room, Your Majesty. My men will show the 'guest' to the Re-education Room when they arrive."

Azula stepped first into the dark room, with no gemstones in the walls here. The light meekly crawling in from the door was the only illumination the room was getting. It was largely bare except for a series of shelves earthbended into the wall, inside which were trunks of various shapes and sizes, half of them opened, filled to the brim with scrolls. Some were strewn across a small stone table jutting out from the wall. Across the wall to the right of the door was a long, thin slit that connected to the room on the other side, presumably the 'Re-education Room'.

Azula walked over and picked up a random scroll from one of the trunks. Unrolling it, she found herself reading the closest, most personal details imaginable of some person she'd never met before. There were professional observations, personal testimonies and even small sketches strung together in the scroll...a picture of someone's entire life. Azula smiled knowingly. She had hit upon a treasure trove when she discovered the Dai Li, a missing link in her investigations of what made human beings tick: the contents of their minds. She was capable of reducing people to nervous wrecks by turning their weaknesses against themselves, that was true, but now she had no need to. She had an army of people to do that for her, diligent enough to record every insignificant step on the way.

She'd seen signs of that in Colonel Yuung's preliminary report, which she'd read thoroughly as her own personal homework. He'd tortured a frog to death when he was seven, and felt so guilt-ridden about it that he'd risked his neck stealing a frog from a local noble's private pond just to replace it. A gardener was blamed for losing the landlord's prized frog, and ended up being evicted from his home along with his family for raising the lord's ire. Yuung never owned up to it. The Dai Li were the first people to discover this nugget of information. This stuff was more valuable than platinum.

She placed the scroll back in the trunk, and guessed that they were organised in phonetic order. She was pleased that Long Feng had taken it upon himself to bring this material with him to her retreat. She might just curl up to sleep with this stuff. It had a purpose, at the end. Once she identified the weaknesses, she could begin to figure out how to eliminate them once and for all. Long Feng held some delight in how well Azula was taking to this plethora of information. That was, after all, part of the reason for bringing it here, besides practicalities. He voiced aloud, "these are records of some of our more recent cases. We have a warehouse full of similar records in Ba Sing Se. I thought that you'd like to hand-pick a few specific types of cases to bring to Pingfang Bay. We're organising transport as we speak, Your Majesty."

Azula leaned back against the shelves, smiling deliciously, "you'll find I'm slightly harder to impress than you think, Grand Secretary..._slightly _harder." She could hear a small commotion from the door, and could tell immediately what two people would make that kind of disturbance, and stood upright away from the shelves, "let's see how you go about _acquiring _this information in the first place."

Long Feng turned to pay attention to the minor racket going on outside, and walked across the room to shut the door, leaving only a small strip of light emanating weakly from the Re-education Room. It was towards this slit that Long Feng walked, "they should be arriving any moment. If you'd care to observe, Your Majesty."

Azula walked silently over to the slit and peered through. She could just about make the outline of a chair and a large circle ringing around in front of it. The chair was set on rails so it could move elsewhere around the room, and to either side of it were various instruments, ostensibly for use in whatever technique the Dai Li used. The door grew more ajar, and dark shapes emerged inside, dragging something heavy in. On closer inspection, the two dark shapes most prominent were actually alternately a dark crimson and a dark pink.

"_Man_, he's heavy! How can he move all this weight, honestly?" Ty Lee nattered, "you know what would be good for him? A fresh new fitness regime! It'd do him a world of good. His heart must be _palpating _from moving all this muscle around. He'd be much better as a fitter, leaner guy. I mean, big, bulging muscles might be cool if you're a guy, but I dunno. They're just really gross to me..."

"Please, give me a reason to drop him on you..." Mai groaned, pulling the weight up and onto the chair. It was easy enough, if just really tedious.

"How did you girls fare?" Azula asked through the slit, amused by how much they got on each others' nerves. A couple of Dai Li moved in to secure the lumpen mass on the chair, snapping metal cuffs around his hands, feet, chest, abdomen and forehead. The body groaned.

"I got him in the neck and Mai finished him off with a dart," Ty Lee reported perkily, "went down like a log. You've no idea how cute he is when he's sleeping!"

"Big snoring oxen are not cute," Mai said in a deadpan tone, "saying that they are _really loudly_ does not make them so."

"We'll take it from here, Your Majesty," Long Feng leaned aside to inform Azula.

"You girls get some rest," Azula ordered, "you might just have to take him back later tonight."

The girls nodded affirmatively and made their exit from the room. As the door shut, all light was cut off, and the Fire Princess, the Grand Secretary and their captive experiment were plunged into darkness. None of them could really see a thing, just when the prisoner was gradually coming into a position to do so. The captive groaned groggily, and the others waited patiently for him to wake up.

They didn't have to wait long. The prisoner coughed and hacked as he got the last of the poison out of his system, and moved to rub his head, only to be stalled by the metal brackets around his arms. Some struggling later, and the bewildered captive was getting more and more panic-stricken. Angrily, he tore at the chair to little avail, snorting loudly and cursing his condition. He couldn't look around at the complete blackness, but the feel of metal against his limbs proved he was awake and somewhere physical.

He breathed quickly, teeth gritted, growing to realise that he wasn't alone. There were things cloaked in the shadows, not revealing themselves. Confused and angry, he challenged aloud, "wh...what is this? Where am I? Where've you taken me!? _Who are you!? Show yourselves! _You..." He gulped down and concentrated, channelling his anger at the dark space before him, "what're you gonna do to me?"

"Don't worry," a calm and reassuring voice spoke to the prisoner soothingly, "you are safe now."

An orange glow lit up and began travelling around the room regularly. Colonel Mongke smouldered and glared at the neutral, stable face of the Dai Li agent in front of him. Darkness and light danced around, and the Dai Li was the only stable element around for the Fire Nation soldier to fix his eyes on. He couldn't see anything beyond. Not even the pair of bronze eyes glinting with every sweep of the orange light.

**To Be Continued…**

_**Avatar: The Last Airbender **_Concept and Characters © Nickelodeon 2005-06

* * *

**Author's Note: **Most of the effort on this chapter went into getting the Nandi-led bits right. And I still don't think I've got it. The Azula segment was achieved in one go, and I think it's far better material. Things will be beginning to wrap up from the next part onwards as everything's set up for the final showdown aboard the _Gang Shen_.


	11. Zhi Ze

Xuan's hands were shaking badly enough that most of the tea he was drinking was ending up outside the cup. Despite all his efforts to stay calm and collected, he still felt like he was on the verge of exploding and imploding at the same time. He was angry at the world at large for turning its back on him. _Him_, of all people. But he was also terrified. Abjectly terrified like nothing before in his life. He was terrified of what awaited him back home with his reputation in tatters, and he was terrified of the thing that didn't even want him to get that far. His life was in danger, the lives of his employees and all his paying customers was in danger, and he couldn't shake off the feeling that they'd blame him for this. Posthumously.

The time alone in his cabin lent itself to this kind of self-indulgent pity. His was a comparatively luxurious quarters, fitting for a man of his station but nothing compared to the homes of his immediate employers. An Earth Kingdom noble wouldn't have considered worth the phlegm he'd spit on it. But it was comfortable enough for Xuan, because he wasn't really looking for comfy beds. He was looking for recognition, position, perhaps even admiration, for actually helping people instead of blowing them up. A veritable example to people. So he'd spent much of his time trying to get to know people and enticing them with treats. A satisfied customer was his pleasure in life, and he could subsist on little else.

So here he was now, on his own, cut off from his own service, going very slowly mad from isolation. It still felt like betrayal that his own staff could treat him like a prisoner. But with his own survival at stake, such things were moot in the grander scheme of things. He was caught in a dilemma. If he lived, his hopes of controlling the ferry crossings for the Mo Ce Sea would be torn to shreds. His own position would have little chance of remaining. On the other hand, if he died...well, he'd be dead. What the heck use was that? He thought of Captain Mayu's words on the subject of living through this intact, and realised that his dying was far more likely than his remaining alive.

Xuan clutched his cup in one hand as he sat up from his bed and looked wild-eyededly out the porthole into the red setting sun. Night was approaching, and he was certain that it would be the last he'd ever see of the sun. He looked back and took a strained sip of his seventh cup, looking over his belongings, his personal affects, and the hole in the wall that held a locked safe, built with circular dials on its face lined by calligraphic symbols, filled with the Service deeds and his cut of the revenue flow. His crackled brain calculated the prospects. If everyone died, his reputation would be safe. If everyone died _except _him, his reputation would be just as safe. And these things would be less likely to target one measly lifeboat. Surely?

He threw the cup aside and pulled a sizeable number of bags out from under the bed, quickly stepping over to dial the combination that opened the safe. He'd maintain his reputation, and stay alive by doing this. It was unquestionably the right thing to do, from Xuan's perspective.

* * *

Avoiding detection as the two of them (plus one lemur) made their way to the bottom of the ship was relatively easy while most of the crew were concentrated in the far aft section. As they reached further down, the decoration got sparser and sparser until there wasn't any decoration at all, just the raw arteries of the ship laid bare for easy fixing. There was one level lower they had to reach, however. The layer never intended for human habitation of any sort. It was in this forsaken place that they hoped to find Aang.

Toph planted her feet in the ground as she prized open the hatchway. It had taken ages to find a way down, since the ship had been built on the assumption that no one would be stupid enough to go down to the bottom of the ship while at sea. The hatchway they had found was sealed tight, and only opened with some persuasion. Luckily, Toph was a rather persuasive person, and the metal skin of the hatchway was peeled back enough to allow her to drop through. It was only when Momo screeched loudly that the blind girl realised she had jumped down a thirty-foot drop.

She flailed as she fell face-first into a pool of water, groaning as she sat up to a point where her upper chest was level with the water line. Katara bended a cushion of water upwards to soften her fall, while Toph rubbed the back of her scalp and squeezed water out of her tunic, mumbling, "someday, I'm gonna_ murder _water."

"Hey!" Katara took offence, even as she adopted a defensive stance thigh-deep in the drink, "you kiss your mother with that mouth?"

"No," Toph answered without a trace of sarcasm, standing up until she was waist-deep and wringing out her clothes, "they were afraid I'd strain my neck if I tried."

Katara looked up thoughtfully, "...ask a stupid question..." She quickly snapped her attention down towards the flow of water around their bodies, facing a new direction down the length of the ship, "the water's coming from this way! C'mon!"

Katara began wading through the murky depths of the ship unthinkingly. Toph waited for Momo to point her in the right direction, and ended up flicking him to hurry the lemur up. Momo was barely any help in this darkness, and operated on best guess. The hull was almost cavitating with the amount of chugging activity reverberating across its surface. The bilge pumps were working full tilt trying to deal with the water leaking in. It would have been perfect for Toph to gain directions by, except for the pool of water cushioning the vibrations and the sounds. Nandi was conspiring to create a space she was least comfortable in, Toph felt. That just made her madder. She forced herself through the water.

To Katara these thoughts were peripheral. She just wanted him to be safe.

* * *

"Hold on good, Gam!" Shui implored as she hurried switched around bolts at the bottom of the pump control, being held up high by Sokka. She badgered, "show me what them man-muscles're made of!"

"You wanna see man-muscles?" Sokka bragged, straining his hardest to keep the tall, cylindrical pumping control from disappearing down the hole in the engine floor and into oblivion. He responded to the challenge by lifting the pump control even higher, nearly busting his back in the process, "now _this _is some man-musc- _urk!_"

"Don't kill yerself! I need ya ta stop this thing fallin' on me!" Shui scrabbled together the last of the screws and snapped the panel shut, "'kay! Drop it!"

Sokka relaxed his arms and let the cylinder thunk down into the hole. He quickly twisted it, holding onto a handlebar sticking out the side, but it twisted only a little bit before ceasing to budge. Shui grabbed onto another handlebar on the other side and pulled with as much might as her slight frame could muster. The stuck contraption gradually eased, then finally flung around and snapped into place. A tense moment passed, then a rumble joined the multitude of other rumbles as the wall of instruments next to the two of them started up.

"Oh yeah! We rock so hard!" Sokka punched the air excitedly. They both admired their handiwork and beamed at each other.

"We're gonna be th' team'a th' century, I tells ya!" Shui held a hand up and stepped forward, inviting a high-five. Sokka laughed as he high-fived in return, only for his hand to slap through thin air. Jerkily regaining his balance, he looked up to see Shui frozen in place and glaring resentfully at someone behind him. He turned to see Wan with arms crossed looking immensely peeved at the both of them. Sokka shrank back and smiled nervously.

"Eheh...hey! Look! Pump valves are working again!" Sokka tried to redirect Wan's anger, but the old man didn't budge a bit from his expression. Eventually, he marched forward to grab Sokka forcefully by the front of his shirt with one hand. Sokka winced, expecting a face full of phlegm, but instead he was just shoved forcefully aside and ignored by the engineer, who let go of Sokka and grabbed onto two levers set into the wall. He pulled down on them wordlessly, and pulled down on another set of two directly underneath them, both of which Sokka had previously been blocking.

Wan continued ignoring the both of them as he walked back through them, only mumbling bitterly, "...good job." Sokka briefly watched the man go back to the myriad of other duties he had to perform, and turned to Shui, who still seemed to be resentful of Wan's interruption. She shrugged it off and knelt down to pick up the debris of tools they'd left scattered around.

Sokka decided to comment out loud and see where it got him, "what a jerk." It was an honest opinion, "how do you put up with him all the time?"

"Don't..." Shui sighed, pausing to look up at Sokka knowingly, "y'know...he's a nice guy deep down...he just hides it really well."

"That's a way you can put it, I s'pose..." Sokka leant down to help with the tools, "...he told me a little about you...not a lot! Just...the basics...you know... It's great that you wanna do things with your life and everything, following the dream, that sorta stuff. But letting someone else run your life...is it really worth that?"

Shui stopped working and looked Sokka angrily in the eye, "y'got work ta do, don't cha? Go ask Wan about doin' sumthin' else."

Sokka reeled back slightly, but relaxed and nodded his head respectfully, "okay...I get it..." The Water Warrior stood up to retrieve a screwdriver from atop a part of the instrument panel. Upon picking it up, the gauge below it grabbed Sokka's attention, "hey...should this thing be doing that?"

"Should what be doin' what?" Shui stood up too to look at the gauge Sokka indicated. The needle was waving wildly at the far end of the scale, where most of the other pumps were operating at far more relaxed paces. Shui explained, "that's th' bilge pumps. They switch on automatically when th' bottom o' th' ship takes on too much water..."

Shui's eyes widened when she realised what Sokka's discovery insinuated. Sokka's eyes widened in turn, "I'll get Wan..."

He never had the chance. Right then, the door to the Engine Room flung open, and uniformed men and women marched quickly through. Engineers paused in their tweaking, fixing and shovelling to watch the militia emerge through the steam to make their presence felt. Through them, Captain Mayu made her entrance, staking authority on the metal plating around her with little except her aura. The engineers weren't sure whether to keep working or salute...they'd never had the higher-ups bother with the Engine Room before. Only Wan, halfway up the ladder as he was, knew how to react.

"Huh. Don't see ya down 'ere much," Wan leapt down to clank onto the floor, walking up to the Captain while wiping his hands and acting disdainfully towards his superior, "couldn'tcha knock first or sumthin'? People jus' barge in whene'er they're in th' mood, 'ese days..."

"Chief Engineer Wan, it's normally customary to stand to attention and show respect when a senior officer enters," Mayu drawled authoritatively.

Wan snorted and turned to a crewmate who was busy twisting a valve seal on the upper balcony, "hey, Zhei! Stand ta attention, willya?"

Zhei looked around uneasily and 'ummed' as he considered the request. He reluctantly complied, and winced as the inevitable happened and his spanner spun back round rapidly, flying off when the valve burst and let off a plume of steam. Reeling back, Zhei quickly sprung from his standing at attention and picked up his wayward spanner, quickly jamming it back on to screw the valve shut. Wan turned back to Mayu and smiled smugly.

"A simple 'I can't do that' would have sufficed," Mayu regarded the engineer with derision. She breathed the fuming air deeply, "Chief Wan, have you or any of your staff seen any young children enter this room in the last few hours?"

"Nope," Wan answered shortly, "an' believe me when I say I'm jus' as curious as y'are."

Sokka could see a sterling opportunity as it opened up in front of him. Wan might want to hide it, but right now was the chance to get the commanding officer interested without in the least bit implicating himself. "Chief! The bilge pumps are working flat out!" Sokka barged in, "the bottom of the ship's taking in a lot of water!"

"...ye don't say?" Wan stated flatly, none too pleased at his inside source going around him. Shui had wandered up, being extremely curious as to what agreement he and the Chief seemed to have. Mayu grew intensely interested.

"The bottom of the ship?" the Captain looked aside to indicate to the militia to prepare to leave, "that's outside the quarantine area. Are you sure?"

"The instruments don't lie," Sokka pointed a thumb behind him. Mayu grew intrigued at this crew member, so lacking in the typical characteristics of Wan's engineers. In studying the boy closely, something twigged.

"...have I seen you somewhere before?" the Captain asked. Sokka, placed on the spot, froze to the spot. After an uncomfortably long pause, he shrugged.

"...maybe?" Sokka answered uncertainly. Becoming self-conscious under this beautiful, stern woman's piercing and interrogative stare, Sokka was alert enough to jump noticeably when the Engine Room door slammed. Mayu noticed the jump and turned aside to see her first officer enter the room alone. The Lieutenant paused behind the gathering of militia, peering at all the crew members present before his young, fresh face settled on Sokka. Eyes narrowing, he walked through the other militia to reach the spy.

"Ah, Lieutenant Yin. It looks like we'll need to widen our search. I need you to find as many crew members as possible to block off the far lower decks. Quarantining the aft section is a lower priority now..." Mayu ordered in a disinterested manner, growing confused when the Lieutenant seemed to ignore her commands and walk straight past her. Perturbed, she stressed, "Lieutenant? I'm giving you an order!"

Yin still ignored his Captain, and came to a halt in front of Sokka, staring him derisively in the eye. He asked curtly, "you're Gameshin, aren't you?"

"...yeah?" Sokka answered, confused. His confusion turned to startlement when Yin grabbed one of his shoulders and jerked him to one side, grabbing both of his hands behind his back and shunting an arm into Sokka's back, slamming his body into the nearest wall. Shui gasped loudly.

"_Whad'ya think ye're doin'!?_" Wan demanded angrily. Sokka's face was pressed harshly against the hot rusty metal, almost scalding him. He grunted loudly in pain and fury, snorting at the treatment being inflicted on him. Yin was exerting himself, but remained professional throughout.

"Gameshin..." Lieutenant Yin of the Fire Navy Transportation Ministry Contingent informed the trapped and strained Water Warrior in disguise, "...on the Authority of the Fire Lord, Sovereign Commander of the Fire Navy, I am arresting you on suspicion of sabotage."

* * *

Kyo drummed the side of her chair impatiently. Over the hours, she'd been making fingernail-sized indentations in the metalwork, having been charged with nervous adrenaline with nowhere to exercise it. She was sitting in a small lounge, typically used for Xuan to entertain important passengers, and now filled with worried parents. None of them struck up any conversation. They mostly cradled their cups of tea staring off into the distance. The crewmate accompanying them had taken it upon herself to make them comfortable and refill their teacups for them, but by now the cups were simply going cold in their hands.

Kyo was still drinking, hands fidgeting, desperate to do something, anything. She knew everything was being done, but that wasn't any comfort to her. Her eyes skitted from one feature of the lounge to another, to the porthole, to the door, to the dull red lamps that lined the metal walls, but nothing could still her. Sick with worry, she sat ready to spring up at a moment's notice, and had been sitting this way for hours. Her senses were hyperactive enough that she was able to catch the merest hint of a childish giggle, going past the doorway.

Eyes snapping to the door, she saw the briefest flash of red, which was gone in an instant. The giggling faded away, but it energised her like nothing before. She mumbled in insane hope, "...Nandi?" Attracting the attention of the other parents, teary-eyed but determined, she scrabbled off of the chair towards the corridor, in search of her son.

* * *

Toph and Katara felt their way through the murky depths of the ship, squeezing past obstacles and the gaps between pipes until they came to something of a vaulted gap. At the edges, Katara could tell the Mo Ce Sea was pouring into the _Gang Shen _through five large gashes. She peered through the darkness, trying to make heads or tails of it. Toph, just being able to tell Katara's heightened awareness, asked aloud, "so are we there yet?"

"We have to be. Water's coming in from five holes. Two on the left, three on the right. See if you can..." Katara stopped in mid-sentence, eyes widened at the sight in front of her. Some way up the central pipe, she could manage to tell the presence of a slight, short-haired boy strung up with his arms tied around the back. He was limp and motionless, "...Aang?"

"Is he okay?" Toph asked as she felt her way down the sides, getting a face full of water as she hit upon the first of the holes. Spitting out salt water, she felt around the sides of the hole, gasping slightly as she realised what she was feeling, "hey! This is the outer keel! It's made out of impure metal! I might be able to seal it if I get a good enough grip! Can you help me with the water?"

"Just...just give me a second!" Katara steadied herself, drawing an arm up and pushing it forward to bring up a stream of water to do the same, slicing through the wire keeping Aang's hands in place. Aang fell forward, and Katara quickly ran to catch him in her arms. Cradling him, she brought up a well of more water to diagnose him. She sighed as she found out his condition, "he's...he's okay. He's alive...but he's out again."

"Out? Y'mean 'out' out? Like before?" Toph gave up on finding help and tried to seal the holes herself, prizing apart the metal skin to get to the keel. She groaned frustratingly, "well that's the most helpful thing _ever_."

"We have to get him out of here!" Katara implored, setting the water aside to carry Aang in both hands.

"It won't matter where we get him if we don't seal these-_aah!_" Toph was flung bodily across the hull, splashing back into the water with a sizeable thud. Momo, clutching her shoulder, flapped his wings to get her head back up over the water-line. Being able to breath, she spat out more salt water and shook her head to steady herself. Recognising the situation, she sprang up to her feet and took a defensive stance, flitting from side to side in preparation, "some...something just hit me in my chest..."

"What? I don't see anything!" Katara stood up, holding Aang's limp weight for now. His heartbeat, though slow, was still there, and that made her all the more nervously alert. In feeling the flow of Aang's blood as she held him, she could feel the flow of the water around her legs, and through this flow...something flowed of its own accord. A lot of things, going past her legs to elsewhere in the ship, "I...I can _feel _them!"

"_Show yourselves, you cowards!_" Toph challenged the creatures, going unseen for their entire journey, the vengeance of nature stalking the living and undermining them. In trying to seem tough, Toph betrayed her own anxiety. She had been badly beaten before, and here the things that beat her finally facing her. Her heart was beating in her mouth, and her teeth gritted in fury and terror. Katara's feelings were more straightforward than that. She was scared. Scared beyond reckoning. And nothing was coming to help them. The Avatar was dying, here, killed by those he swore to protect, and leaving those others he swore to protect behind. It couldn't end like this.

"Aang...Aang you have to wake up..." Katara pleaded, wiping a hand over the Airbender's forehead, breathing softly and shallowly, "you can't leave us like this...Aang! _Aang!_"

* * *

Xuan stuffed another box of money into the side of the lifeboat. This lifeboat was laid inside a large bare room just below the bridge, at the top of a large ramp down the back of the ship, set on an angle that allowed it to slide off the back of the command tower on its own. The other lifeboats were set into the sides of the hull, operated by a single mechanism, while this lifeboat here was meant primarily to allow the command crew to escape once they managed the evacuation. Except they wouldn't, because Xuan was taking it and he felt he was perfectly within his rights to do so. Chiefly the right to stay alive, regardless of what anyone else's lives were worth.

The Administrator ran over to collect another box of belongings, but stood frozen to the spot as he heard a single childish giggle. One hand on the handle of a storage box and the other gathering up an armful of scrolls, he looked slowly around at where the giggle should have come from. The room was empty apart from himself, and after taking a second glance around, he decided it was nothing but his mind making up things, and picked up the armfuls of the various things he'd accumulated over the years, some of which didn't strictly belong to him. Dumping them onto the side of the steel, engine-driven lifeboat, he was taking a breather to prepare to pick up the next back-breakingly huge consignment of riches when another round of giggling echoed around the room, this time noticeably more than one voice.

Gripping the edge of the boat and gulping deeply, he fretfully tip-toed his way to the door of the room, hoping that he hadn't been discovered. A quick glance through the door down either end of the corridor allayed his suspicions, and he relaxed a little. It was nothing, he thought, just the stress getting to him. Everything would be better when he got safely to shore with his reputation intact. Until the moment he realised his feet were getting wet, and when he looked down to see he was standing in a puddle of water that had implausibly appeared out of nowhere. Senses heightened, the implacable giggling started up again. He still couldn't pin it down, but he could pin down the sound that came next, the horrifyingly final clunk of the lifeboat release lever snapping down.

"Oh no..." he muttered. Xuan swivelled round and sprinted faster than he ever thought himself capable of, but it was only fast enough to reach the edge of the ramp in time to see the lifeboat disappear over the side, his personal affects aboard. His last chance of escaping with his reputation intact was ruined, but as he looked aside at the pulled lever, a far more uncomfortable realisation crept over him. His chances of getting out of this room had now dropped dramatically. He looked nervously at every corner as the giggling began again, setting his teeth on edge with its constancy.

* * *

"Was that the emergency lifeboat?" Lieutenant Tan asked aloud from the navigation table. Now with the crew concentrated in the aft section, it was down to a skeleton crew of himself and a single helmsman to manage the bridge, navigating through the encroaching darkness outside. The helmsman had to keep hold of the wheel with his fingernails to check the display.

"Yyyyyes, I believe it is, sir," the helmsman declared. Grunting with frustration, Tan chucked the pencil and compass to one side to stand up and walk over to the speaking tubes. They were simply too few to investigate lifeboats launching themselves...themselves. He flicked on the speaking tube to the aft station.

"Bridge to Aft Section. Require manpower. Please respond," Tan asked without much enthusiasm. He waited for the amount of moments he felt was needed for someone to take to the speaking tube, but no response came. With growing concern, he called down the tube again, "Aft Section! This is the Bridge! We need assistance up here! Respond please!"

The helmsman looked concerned as well, wondering what the problem was. Lieutenant Tan tapped his foot impatiently, and decided it was time enough for more serious measures. He snapped on the tube that overrode all other tubes and addressed the entire ship, "This is the Bridge! If any crew members can hear this message, please respond!" The wait continued. A full minute of total silence went by.

"I don't think that went through, sir," the helmsman offered his opinion. The two of them, at the hub of the entire ship, were completely isolated.

* * *

Xuan crept uncertainly towards the door, afraid that at any moment something might just pounce on him. The giggling swelled up and down at times, but with no sign of a source, and he kept having to tip-toe through small puddles of water. Sweating heavily, he remained alert, and felt a sinking feeling when another clank rang out, this time for the first of a couple of levers next to each other, which controlled the release of all the other lifeboats on the ship. His eyes flickered to the lever, and saw no one near it. Right now, the sides of the hull would be opening up to slide out the lifeboats along rails that extended out the sides of the_ Gang Shen_, in preparation for loading them up and releasing them into the drink. Once they went, there was no way off the ship.

"Oh no you don't!" Xuan ran over to push the lever back up, splashing through a puddle in the process, to slide the lifeboats back into the ship and seal the hull. His sweat became a torrent in the effort, with his underused, aching muscles straining hard to push the lever back into its slot, but eventually it slammed into place. Gasping with satisfaction, he caught his breath back and listened to the mechanical sounds reverberating through the hull, the lifeboat mechanism in action.

Followed by a resounding crash of steel against water.

Xuan was trapped on the_ Gang Shen_. As he stared in paralysed terror at the lever in front of him, the awful truth of his certain demise was as overbearing as the realisation that the thing that made sure of this must be right next to him. His breath ragged, his eyes drifted down to the lever that controlled the release of the lifeboats, pulled fully down, a tiny hand gripped around it, belonging to a small girl, skin a sickly pale, veins bulging across her skin, water pouring down across her face, eyes as empty as wells, smiling and giggling distantly as she stared straight through him.

Xuan retreated away from the girl, twisting quickly when he ran into another child, a boy, giggling at him. He turned this way and that, and every direction he turned in had a giggling child in it. The children surrounded him, leading Xuan to whine in terror as he shrank back against the wall. The children stepped aside to let another child step forward, messy-haired and looking at him as if he was the intended victim of an incredibly cruel practical joke. Nandi mocked, "you wanna leave? Fun ain't even started yet..."

* * *

Aang was elsewhere now. A few steps forward and the concept of being anywhere would become meaningless. Ahead of him was the waterfall, the flowing stream of all life on earth, on the other side of the bridge, beyond which Aang no longer need be Aang, no longer need be the Avatar. Bringing to an end the isolation inside his human shell, reincarnated for so long he needs forceful reminding of what it means to be human. The reflection before him was of himself, or at least the part of himself that was associated with Aang, last of the Airbenders. Soon it was the part of him that was Roku, the firebender at the time of Fire Lord Sozin, who was being reflected back at him. He couldn't take the final step until he knew the answer.

"Roku, what difference can I make now?" Aang asked his reflection, "what's my purpose? Everything's gone too far. There's nothing I can do anymore."

"You are still needed, Aang," Roku spoke back, "the Avatar is still needed. The Balance needs to be restored."

"There isn't a balance to restore!" Aang protested.

"All the more reason to restore it," Roku insisted, "you must understand, Aang. The Avatar's responsibility to protect all that is isn't a duty that is sworn to, nor is it a promise to be kept. It is the definition of who you are. You are the world spirit, and your responsibility cannot be willingly suspended. No matter how hard we wish. It is our purpose until the world itself is nothing but dust. Never for the slightest moment before."

"I...I don't think I can do it," Aang sagged. Even as a non-corporeal representation of himself, he was exhausted.

"Whether you can or not is irrelevant," Roku was uncompromising, "you will. You will because you are the Avatar."

"But I couldn't..." Aang implored, "I made a promise and I couldn't keep it. A whole race died because of me. _Two _have died because of me!"

Roku's image flickered into that of Yang Chen, looking at Aang impassively, "I made the promise to the Shachihoko, Aang. It saddens me that they are diminished, but it is the nature of the world that things die. It is up to you to ensure there is a chance for rebirth. You must protect the Balance any way you can."

"_How!?_" Aang asked in frustration, "_how do I do it!?_"

"The solution is up to you," Yang Chen admitted, "but to find it, you must admit to yourself that you have to find it."

"I'm trying to find a reason..." Aang turned his eyes down towards the blue, texture-less rock of the bridge, "...but 'protecting the Balance', 'taking responsibility'. It's always so...so far away. I can't relate to it. It's too big, I can't get a handle on it."

"You do not need to find a reason," Yang Chen told the last Airbender, "the reason is right in front of you."

Aang couldn't bring his eyes up, but he knew what she was talking about, "...my friends...Katara..."

_**THEN DO WHAT WE MUST DO.**_

The ground shook again, and Aang lost his footing. He yelped as he clung onto the edge with his fingernails. The last Airbender protested, "hey! Watch it! You know I can't bend in the Spirit World!"

_**THE AVATAR MUST ALWAYS BE.**_

"This is so humiliating..." Aang complained as he pushed himself off the ledge. "_AAAAH!_"

Aang fell back towards reality, flailing and hopeless and determined to stay, no matter what.

**To Be Continued…**

_**Avatar: The Last Airbender **_Concept and Characters © Nickelodeon 2005-06

* * *

**Author's Note: **Right then. I'm starting to run out of reasons why this story is taking so long _and _degrading in quality simultaneously. Although moving house and getting started on my dissertation doesn't help, I still take far too much time arsing around on the internet. I'm feeling run down and under-the-weather, and that might just be affecting the story. The humour's draining out of it, part by part. Ehhh...maybe I'm not cut out for this. What do you think? Hmm...maybe I use other's opinions as too much of a crutch...nah. Ech, I've no idea what I'm talking about anymore. It's all a big fuzz to me.


	12. Twilight of the Gods

"Lieutenant Yin, may I enquire as to why you're squashing this poor lad's face against a bulkhead?" Captain Mayu asked with a distant air. Her words were leagues more polite than the words Sokka would've liked to give to Yin if his mouth wasn't too busy biting rivets. Yin was unapologetic, even with Wan patting his spanner menacingly.

"He's a passenger, ma'am, and yet he's taking an unreasonable amount of interest in the running of the _Gang Shen_," Yin explained, "he's been seen here in the Engine Room, up on deck poking his nose into our investigations, and associated with the abducted shortly before he went missing."

"But...he ain't done nuthin'!" Shui defended unthinkingly. Sokka screwed his face trying to turn his head to one side under Yin's hand-clamp. He looked out of the extreme corner of his eye at the people surrounding him, unable to see Shui as more than an offended blur, "he's been here fer hours! He's been nuthin' but help!"

"I have to say, Lieutenant, you're treading on thin ice, evidence-wise," Mayu scolded the First Officer, "and this is a distraction from our main task, making sure the ship is safe from this abnormal threat."

"With all due respect, ma'am, you might believe this gobbledy-gook, but I have hard evidence that this 'boy' has something to do with our current situation," Yin let go of Sokka's head but kept him pressed against the bulkhead as he drew out a scroll from his pocket, "the room that came under attack is signed in his name. There's little of it left now except a lot of chewed up furniture, a great big hole, and our missing crewman, Ensign Xai, lying dead in the centre. Imagine my surprise when I realised the Gameshin who miraculously appeared in the engineering roster a few hours ago was the same Gameshin who was staying in a room with a dead crewman in it. And then imagine my surprise when that same Gameshin just so happened to be _you_."

Sokka's breath had been so thoroughly squeezed out of him that he couldn't respond coherently. Mayu crossed her arms, her condescending stare drifting from Yin to the disguised Water Warrior, "you have my apologies, Lieutenant. That does sound mighty suspicious."

"C'mon, yer Captainness, ye gotta give th' boy a chance ta speak," Wan reasoned, "I'm sure he's got sum' fine 'n dandy reason fer being so pokey. Don'tcha, kid?"

Sokka could see Wan inside his field of vision, but the look he gave back didn't seem very supportive. It seemed almost smug, in a 'how are you going to get out of this _now_, smartass?', sort of fashion. Obviously, the Chief Engineer had decided his usefulness had come to an end, and was leaving him out to dry, confident that he couldn't think of anything to get out of this mess. As much as Sokka wanted to wipe the smile off the smug curmudgeon's face, the truth was that he honestly _couldn't _think of a way out. He'd painted himself into a corner, and feigning innocence was no longer an option.

"Gam..." Shui broke away from the rest of the group and ran to Sokka's side, leaning down to meet Sokka's squished face at eye level, imploring "Gam, tell 'em. Tell 'em ye're an okay guy. ...Gam?" She was hoping earnestly for a sign that these people had to be wrong...that Sokka really could be trusted. Those hopeful, golden eyes made Sokka feel ashamed, because he knew he couldn't be trusted. He was a spy. And any moment now he was going to break her heart. He glanced away, unable to look into those eyes, and that way noticed something off about the pipe-covered metal surface far behind her.

"Hey..." Sokka winced, "...should that wall be leaking?"

Shui raised an eyebrow at the comment, and turned around, jerking into alertness at the sight of a panel halfway up the wall bubbling water out of its crevices. She swore under her breath, "Kaya Nu Hima..." Grabbing onto a stray hand-hold, she launched herself up onto the edge of the balcony and ran along the railing, leaping across a gap to latch her feet into a narrow foothold just above the panel, and falling backwards to look at the damage upside-down. A quick glance was all she needed, yelling "_Chief! I'm gonna need help!_"

Wan's eyes flitted momentarily to the God of Steel, cursing, "why ya..._ye heard her! Get a spare panel an' find th' source o' th' leak! Try th' lower fuselage connection chutes! If not that, try sumthin' else_! What? Ye think I jus' gave ya a holiday? _Move!_"

The Engine Room erupted into a flurry of activity as engineers left their stations to set about fixing the leak. Sokka, in the meantime, was getting an uncomfortable cramp from being spread across a bulkhead, "hey...uh...sir? Could you...maybe...let me go now?"

"This proves nothing, you realise?" Yin threatened. Mayu was close to ordering Sokka taken away when she paused. The bulkhead Sokka was being pressed against was starting to leak too.

"Maybe not, but I daresay _that _most certainly will," the Captain commented. Yin turned away to ask what the Captain was talking about, but the bulkhead rumbled as he opened his mouth. Both Yin and Sokka twisted their eyeballs warily at the loosening bulkhead, hoping that it was just the furnaces doing their own thing.

Of course it wasn't.

The two of them bounded across the room, and the Captain threw an arm up to cover her face as a torrent of water burst through the wall. The rest of the militia were swept off their feet, but the Captain remained on her feet. Being the only one in the room not either busy or being pummelled by fluid, she was also the only one to catch Wan's scared glance when her arm fell from her face. He knew something. She could tell, and asked over the roar of the burst pipe, "explanation, Chief Engineer!?"

Wan's terror evaporated into focused anger, as he wielded his spanner with renewed determination, "nature wants a fight!? I'm gonna give 'er th' fight of a lifetime!"

Mayu was momentarily distracted by the engineer that had tried standing to attention before being thrown off the balcony by the valve he was fixing exploding in a gush of seawater in his face. When she looked back up, Wan was already trying to seal a raging funnel with insane certainty. Water was bursting in from several points by now, from the floor and from the walls, filling up the Engine Room with alarming speed. She ordered the militia just now getting to their feet, "get to your feet and help him!"

Sokka pushed away the bulkhead, having been squashed against the wall. Thankfully Yin was there to take some of the pressure. The First Officer groaned painfully, which was music to Sokka's ears, but any satisfaction he might have had evaporated when faced with the hellish scene facing him. The Engine Room was flooding from several points, leading up from the depths of the ship, everyone was trying to seal it, but the flow was too strong...like it was being pushed. Sokka gulped, "...it's started..."

* * *

"_Can anyone hear me!?_" Lieutenant Tan screamed into tube after tube, with no appreciable effect. Hot and flustered, he glanced at the navigation instruments and shouted at the helmsman, "can't you adjust course without me ordering you to? We're starting to drift!"

"I am adjusting...course..." the helmsman complained, drifting off when an utterly terrified Xuan tore past him, practically falling at the feet of the Second Officer, huffing and puffing mercilessly.

"You have to stop them!" Xuan begged the officer, tugging at his uniform in desperation, "they...they're after me! The kids are going to kill me! Do something!"

"Do you mind? I'm in the middle of something..." Tan ignored the hyperventilating administrator and concentrated on the tubes, yelling until he was red in the face, "_the lifeboats have been jettisoned! I need people up here and I can't leave the bridge! Can someone please for the love of Agni talk to me!?_"

"They did it! The kids! They launched the lifeboats! They're after me! Don't let them..." Xuan squealed as he turned and scrabbled into a corner, mumbling incoherently, "oh no...oh no...oh no...they're here...they're here..."

"Shut up! I need to concentrate!" Tan scolded, ignoring everything else in the bridge...including the strangling noise coming from the wheel behind him, "_okay, I know for a fact there's nothing wrong with these tubes! So stop joking around and help me you damn lazy creep...!_"

_Why did you take our children?_

The voice that wasn't sound, emerged straight into his mind with no intermediary. And yet for some insane reason he believed it was talking through the speaking tube. Frozen in fright and shaking like a leaf, Tan leaned in to talk something resembling reason, "um...we...haven't taken your children...as far as I know. I mean...I guess we could help if you...uh...gave a description?"

_Give us back our children._

Tan gulped. Sweating torrents, he pursed his lips upon realising that whatever it was he was talking to...it wasn't looking for assistance. He leaned in again, asking earnestly, "...what are you?"

_GIVE US BACK OUR CHILDREN._

* * *

_GIVE US BACK OUR CHILDREN._

The two lady assistants-cum-food distribution agents both looked up from their ration cataloguing to wonder what on earth could have made that voice coming out of the tube.

* * *

_GIVE US BACK OUR CHILDREN._

Kyo ignored the cry, even as the others shrunk back from their march down the corridors. She wanted to know the same thing.

* * *

_GIVE US BACK OUR CHILDREN._

The agonising call shocked Yin out of his haziness, and he got to his feet on the half-submerged Engine Room floor to address the Captain, who had paused in helping the others to look up at the tubes. She looked angry, and he asked carefully, "what was that?"

"That was our final warning," Mayu called to everyone in the Engine Room, "_all hands! Abandon ship!_"

* * *

_GIVE US BACK OUR CHILDREN._

The young girl buried her head inside her mother's chest. She cradled the child, assuring her everything was alright, knowing deep down that she was lying.

* * *

_GIVE US BACK OUR CHILDREN._

Katara took a step backward, still cradling Aang, to cover Toph's back. She was shaking, and could tell when they were close that Toph was shaking too. She looked down at Aang and begged fate that this wouldn't be the end. That everything wasn't lost.

In an instant, Aang's eyes opened wide and the Avatar gasped for breath.

* * *

_GIVE US BACK OUR CHILDREN._

Lieutenant Tan stood dumbstruck. They hadn't a snowball's chance in the Dragon King's lair. He shut the speaking tube and muttered, "...my god."

"No," Nandi giggled next to him, "mine."

* * *

The shattering of glass made Kyo turn her head, and down the long corridor to the bridge, the rest of the world became darkness by comparison. At the end of the long tunnel...her son looked at her and smiled. He looked worn and pale, water dripping from his body and veins bulging from his skin, but he looked happy. His childish giggle sent Kyo into tears of joy.

"Nandi..." she murmured, slowly beginning a run forward, down the dark tunnel towards her child. She had believed, she had been certain, and she had been vindicated. But from the ceiling, out of nowhere, the tunnel snapped shut. Joy turned into desperation, agonised and torturous frustration, as she flew into the sealed bulkhead, an emergency measure, scrabbling her fingernails across the surface in a mad attempt to tear the whole thing off. It wouldn't budge an inch. She never stopped trying, and when she heard the other parents, accompanied by the crewmate attempting to calm them down, she screamed until her throat was sore, "_he's alive! They're alive! They're right here and they're alive!_"

* * *

The militia member was within a hair's breadth of getting out of the Engine Room when the bulkhead dropped down from above the door. In a snap decision, he halted right in front the door, flailing backwards as it sealed shut in front of him. If he'd tried to leap through, he would have been crushed. The militiaman wiped his brow in relief, standing up to get his behind out of the water. The burst of water were actually dying down now. Everyone else sagged. There wasn't anything else to do now.

"That was close," the militiaman laughed nervously, facing everyone else, "for a moment I thought I was a gon-_AAK!_"

The militiaman disappeared beneath the water-line, shocking the engineering team and Mayu's guard into taking defensive positions. The soldier had vanished without a trace.

Sokka unsheathed his boomerang, exchanging glances with a grimly determined Wan. This was it.

* * *

"Aang! We have to get out of here! There's..." Katara began, letting Aang step down into the puddle by himself, feeling stronger than ever. The water was swirling with...something. Something was circling them, watching them, but that didn't phase him in the slightest. He was calm, and he knew what was coming.

"I know," Aang interrupted the Waterbender, "there's nowhere else to go. This ends here. Now."

"With us turned into zombies, no doubt," Toph drawled pessimistically. Aang would hear none of it.

"I won't let them," he breathed deeply...angrily..._fiery_, "there's been too much death today. There'll be no more. _Not one more_."

* * *

Xuan cowered underneath the console, far in the corner, chilled to the bone even with the night-time summer air drifting in through the smashed window. There was no one else in bridge now. Except _them_.

He shook his head and wept. He didn't deserve this, to be the one who saw his pride and glory sent to the bottom of the sea...to be the last one to see it before he was dragged down with it. All he did was try to provide a service, to advance his reputation a little, but instead he was cradling his last sack of money like a child, while a dead child was giggling distantly and playing with the ship's controls. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair in the slightest. What was the point of all this? Why did it have to be him? He sobbed, "please...what do you want from us?"

"Same thing you wanted from us..." Nandi turned and smiled, yanking forward hard on the accelerator lever, dripping water everywhere. His eyes went straight through Xuan, and he answered joyfully, "...death."

* * *

From the water, the Shachihoko emerged. Around the three at the bottom of the ship, and in front of the contingent in the Engine Room. They emerged on slowly rising pillars of water, the slick wetness sliding effortlessly off their smooth, white surfaces, catching in cracks that crept in from the edges of their faces. They were nothing but round faces...masks...staring at the humans with two black holes each, shaped perfectly circular, leaking water as they emerged. The holes were the only features on their cracked mask-faces. But they could tell the Shachihoko could see them. They stared into the humans' very essences, seeing more than mere appearance. They could see everything.

The mask-faces rose, not attached to anything except the pillars of water they rose on. The Shachihoko rose as if they were cloaked figures, slowly rising out of the water, consisting of nothing but water themselves. Through the water, the mask-faces formed their bodies. The Shachihoko were indistinguishable from the water they emerged from. It was as much a part of them as their faces were, and there was no point in the water where they stopped. They looked at the humans with infinite grief. And infinite rage. It was emotion unlimited by the human ability to express. The Shachihoko bled their emotion into the environment around them. The environment became their grief, and their rage.

Almost all the humans stood in terrified awe of these things, barely able to comprehend their magnificence. All except one. The Avatar stood before them, understanding their grief and their rage, but nevertheless he stood firm. No one else would die today, and he meant it.

The Shachihoko stared at humankind, their murderers, and called their endless song. The song they would scream until the end of days if they had to. They had no other songs left. The Shachihoko consumed everything around them, and were themselves consumed by a single, mindless desire...

_GIVE US BACK OUR CHILDREN._

* * *

"_Nothing can bring them back!_" Aang cried.

The Shachihoko stared at the Avatar with their infinite gaze. They could not accept what he just said. Around the three of them, eight Shachihoko had emerged, and all at once they sprang into action. From their cloak-shaped pillars, tendrils of water burst forth, circling around until they took up most of the cavernous chamber in the depths of the ship. The dozens of tendrils twisted until they all pointed straight at Aang, and plunged.

Katara swirled her arms around at a lightning pace, and all the tendrils swerved violently into a whirlpool that surrounded the group of three. She never let her arms stop moving, and her movements were so constant that a gap in the water formed around them, leaving a part of the steel hull on which they stood perfectly dry. The Shachihoko stood firm, waiting for her arms to tire, and pressed continuously.

Protected from attack, Toph stepped forward to prepare her own response. Aang stood still, staring through the watery maelstrom at the mask-face of the Shachihoko, which stared back. Neither stirred.

* * *

Captain Mayu asserted herself through her fist, punching it forward to push her sense of righteousness and authority out of her breath and into the world, blazing fiercely as it seared the air between her and the Shachihoko. The fireball sizzled loudly when a tendril of water swished wildly in front of the mask-face, leaving nothing except a large streak of steam in the space between them. Through the steam, the spirits of rivers pressed forward.

Mayu and Yin fired blast after blast to slow their progress, and their fighting retreat just about allowed the other engineers to get behind the firebenders and climb to higher ground around the engine. At one point they even got lucky: Yin fired a blast that was deflected by a surge of water, but by chance Mayu was aiming at the same creature, and through the steam the fire blast pummelled the Shachihoko's face with great force. The cracks widened and the creature weakened, falling behind the others. Only problem was there were over a dozen 'others'. Upon trying to repeat the trick, Mayu and Yin failed. The creatures had wizened up.

The Shachihoko streaked water in front of them, advancing slowly, but Yin and Mayu kept up their withering defence. The Captain was focussed hard enough that it never dawned on her how dangerous standing with her feet in the water was. Only when Yin called out "Captain!" did Mayu realise something was tightening around her leg. All of a sudden, she was hanging upside down with a tentacle of water wrapped firmly around her ankle, a moment away from being dragged into the Shachihoko's embrace.

Then salvation came as a plume of flame cut across the length of the Engine Room, severing the tentacles. Splashing flat on her back, Mayu leant up and glanced swiftly to her left to see Shui dangling from a balcony with a hand pressed firmly down on a release valve just above a pipe connected to the furnace, which was roaring with flame. Shui yelled at the Captain, "_get outta th' water!_"

Mayu and Yin, lying perilously close to a wall of flame, were inclined to oblige the engineering monkey's request, hands helping the two of them clamber onto the engine itself, overloaded with engineers and militia clinging on for dear life. Sokka stood upright on the top of the engine, along with Wan. On the balcony itself, several tendrils of water snaked up to get at both Shui and the valve, but Sokka was prepared, throwing his boomerang and jumping after it, severing the tendrils and catching the weapon on its rebound to sever yet more tendrils snaking up around the firewall.

The Engine Room was being transformed into even more of a sauna than it already was, and many of the tendrils were evaporating even before they reached Sokka. He gulped down and relaxed himself as he stared through the steam at the Shachihoko...who, true to form, just stared right back.

Shui leapt back onto the balcony and peered over Sokka's shoulder, asking fretfully, "wh...whut _are _they? An'...whut're they waitin' for?"

* * *

Momo pointed out the nearest of them, which was all Toph needed to get started. Planting her feet into the pure steel out of habit more than anything else, she pushed a fist forward and twisted her palm back, spearing her armband through the wall of water like a dagger. Pointed straight at the Shachihoko's face, the spear gradually slowed as it was gripped in massive watery arms. Toph pressed her palm slowly forward to exert more and more pressure on the water arms, the prick of the metal-bended spear inching closer to the surface of the creature's mask-face.

Then, out of left-field, Toph twisted her left arm forward, sliding three fingers through the air. The metal on her left armband formed into three three, sharp tendrils, slicing through the water and then into the Shachihoko's face, cutting it cleanly into four long parts. The resistance being met by her spear melted away, and the parts of the mask-face splashed into the puddle. Toph reeled the metal back into her arms with another pull of her arms and twisted her head into the next direction Momo pointed.

This time, Toph stepped forward and slid both her hands forward, sliding them across each other to get her armbands to form into tendrils and slice across each other, to meet the mask-face in the middle. The Shachihoko she aimed at caught the tendrils in mid-swing, and concentrated its empty eyes on the blind girl. Toph smiled as she forced her foot sideways, bringing forth another spear to skewer the mask-face...until something stopped her foot from budging.

The Earthbending master felt something inside her leg, underneath her skin, like it was about to burst. It felt like it had become a solid lump, a useless appendage attached to her body. Angrily, she pushed against her palms harder to bring the two sets of tendrils together. But it was only a few seconds later that her arms became nothing but bulging sacks, sprung apart at a speed that left Toph breathless. Breathless and stuck. She lost control over her limbs one by one, and then lost control over her entire body, dragged off the comfortingly solid ground from the inside.

The blind Earthbender was convinced a fist was squeezing her insides, and her veins pumped by an industrial drainage pipe. She gasped as her lungs were squeezed and her chest filled to bursting by the vice-like grip that overcame her body. Katara spun around as Toph was jerked violently towards the Shachihoko, and stretched out her own arm to halt Toph in mid-air. Toph spluttered, being able to do little except grunt as she had a force behind her attempting to expel out of her blood a force dragging her forward and stretching her in all directions. Momo grabbed onto her shoulders and flapped his wings mercilessly to drag her back, and was remarkably succeeding.

Aang ran forward out of Katara's immediate protection to grab onto Toph's legs and pull. The Earthbender was dragged backwards at an agonisingly slow pace, as tendrils of metal hung limply from Toph's limbs. The well of water swirled inward as Katara was forced to concentrate on two things at once. With one arm holding Toph and the other swirling wildly, the well shrank into a small gap of floor that slowly squeezed shut a tiny bit at a time.

* * *

The Shachihoko looked distantly at the humans, at each other, and finally reached some kind of conclusion. They drifted across the surface of the water, which was still being fed by the many leaks bursting into the Engine Room, and wandered towards the nearest furnace. One of them drifted up on its pillar of seawater and leaned forward, seemingly peering into the flaming, coal-fuelled hell that powered the engine and everything else on the ship, cocking a glance from side-to-side inquisitively.

"...what's it doing?" Sokka asked out loud, witnessing the whole thing along with Shui from their vantage point above the firewall. With a growing horror, they slowly realised as they witnessed the magnificent creature extending tendrils to latch onto the sides around the opening to the furnace...and dived straight in. Steam began blasting out straight away as more water was drawn to extinguish the furnace, slowly dying into non-existence as the Shachihoko did the same. It came as a shock to Sokka...they hated humanity enough to sacrifice themselves just to destroy it.

The hull groaned and rumbled, lights dimmed, pipes burst one by one, and the _Gang Shen _convulsed from the permutations unleashed by the sudden release of so much steam in so short a time, coursing through the ship and damaging all sections along the way. Everyone in the Engine Room could feel it, vibrating and shaking through them. Wan clambered over to complain, loudly, "_what're they doin'!? Th' ship wasn't built fer this treatment!_"

"They're...killin' themselves..." Shui was shaking like a leaf, looking at Wan with eyes that had aged in the last few minutes, "why're they doin' this? Why?"

Wan opened his mouth and closed it rapidly, breathing harshly and squeezing his fists tightly in stubborn anger. He glanced at Sokka, who returned a knowing look and asked the Chief Engineer, "do you want to tell her, or should I?"

"We gotta stop 'em," Wan ignored Sokka and directed his call to everyone else in the room, "we gotta get out here an' stop 'em 'fore they blow all th' furnaces out!"

"You crazy!? We'll get picked off by flies if we go out there!" Sokka argued, flailing at Wan ineffectually.

"An' we'll get picked off if we don't! Ye got any better ideas!?" Wan shot back as another massive plume of steam rose over the whole room, setting off another rumble that burst pipes, smashed valves, and died down the firewall protecting the crew, ever so slightly. Sokka gripped the railings to keep himself from falling over, and when he looked up again, Captain Mayu had suddenly appeared on the balcony.

"Everyone! Grab what you can and get up here! Both sides! Let's make them regret messing with the Fire Nation!" the Captain ordered the crew members. After a moment's hesitation, Sokka witnessed the various crew members gearing up with militia spears, unwieldy spanners and lengths of lead piping. He knew, instantly, that they were going to get slaughtered. He looked aside at Shui. She was thinking exactly the same thing.

* * *

The rumble coursing through the ship made Katara briefly lose her footing, and for a few hair-raising seconds the well of water squeezed further inward. Straining her limbs past breaking point, the Waterbending master gained back control of the water flow enough to keep the well from shrinking faster, but it had shrunk to only a couple of yards across, and it was getting hard to keep Toph inside the wall of water. The Earthbender was strained hard, breathing in a series of gurgled gasps, and annoyed beyond all human reckoning. Aang and Momo were trying their mightiest, but time was taking its toll.

It had to be then that the Shachihoko turned the screws a little bit more, latching onto the tendrils of metal still hanging limply from Toph's limbs and tugging, slowly at first, until the bending of her arms and legs forward became noticeable to Aang. The short-haired boy yelped in fright, repositioning himself to tug harder around Toph's waist. Momo clambered onto Toph's chest and headbutted it, flapping his wings as hard as he could to keep the blind girl from plunging into the Shachihoko's grasp. It was a slowly losing battle.

At the worst possible time, another rumble coursed through the ship, dislodging pipes and snapping valves. Right above the group, a gas pipe snapped and ignited, the hot blast knocking Katara down and sending the Shachihoko's tendrils inward in a mighty collision. The force sent everyone flying, splashing some distance away from each other. While the others had the wind knocked out of them, Toph was so suddenly freed from the crushing control of the Shachihoko that she felt energised, landing on her two feet and quickly appraising the situation: she couldn't see her attackers, but the air around her _should _be clear, given how forcefully they were thrown.

Banking on a hunch, Toph quickly thumped her feet down and willed the metal on her arms and feet to spin and slice, mimicking the strategy Katara was using to keep the Shachihoko at bay. Her quick thinking paid dividends...another collection of objects splashed to the ground, the remains of a mask-face sliced into fragments. The remaining Shachihoko kept their distance for now, as Toph whipped up a whirlwind of iron to slice anything near her into bits.

Aang groaned as he opened his eyes again, and his senses came into sharp focus the moment a sharp piece of metal bended into thin wire sliced the air above his face. His head turned aside to look at Katara, who had been knocked out from the force of the slammed water. They were all bathed in an orange glow as the gas pipe above billowed out flame dangerously. The Shachihoko had retreated in the face of something they couldn't counter, but they were still lying in a puddle, and that made them vulnerable. Especially Katara, who was at that moment being raised on a pillar of water into the spinning whirl of metal.

"Toph! _Stop!_" she heard Aang cry, and instinctively she snapped the metal back into her bands. Before she could ask what the problem was, her insides constricted once again, and she was dragged back-first into the puddle.

"..._ghech...Aang?..._" Toph wretched, "..._little help?_"

Aang didn't know what to do. No bending, no ideas, nothing that could counter the six river spirits approaching slowly from all around them, passing judgement through their eyes.

**To Be Continued…**

_**Avatar: The Last Airbender **_Concept and Characters © Nickelodeon 2005-06

* * *

**Author's Note: **First of all, I want to thank everyone who gave me support after my near-end wobble at the last part. I can't thank you all enough. It's comments like these that make this whole exercise worthwhile. And I want to assure all of you that this Chapter will most assuredly be seen through to the bitter end. In fact, this part would very probably have gotten here earlier if it wasn't for me moving digs on May 31st.

And for those who didn't write to me, but still read my work and enjoyed it...I want to thank you all too. People like you go grossly underappreciated, did you know that? The passive reader. The vast majority of any readership who simply want to sit back and absorb without feeling obligated to comment on things. I salute you, my friends, because as you may have noticed from my chronic lack of reviews and favourites for other authors on FFN, in my heart I'm one of you people.

That said, I am also an attention junkie, so all comments and criticisms welcome!


	13. Of Gods and Monsters

Light and shadow danced across various faces. The Dai Li agent was sometimes visible, sometimes not, but always according to a regular rhythm. Hidden behind a slit in the far wall, faces appeared and disappeared regularly. Long Feng's granite features were lined with shadow, only to merge with the darkness again. Two golden eyes flared up, and vanished. The imprisoned Colonel looked impassively at the Dai Li, the only one he could see, nostrils flaring in defiance. His hands were just starting to shake.

The Dai Li spoke soothingly, "there is no need for anger, Mongke. Your life before was filled with struggle and uncertainty. But there is no need to inhabit that life anymore. You are about to enter a new life, of certainty and devotion. Where there is no more anger, no more worry and no more unease. This life is open to you, offered freely, and you do not need to do a thing."

The briefly-lit face of Long Feng leant aside as Azula's eyes flared with keen interest in the technique being carried out in front of her. He informed the Fire Princess of the procedure, "this is the earliest part of the Re-education process, the Establishment stage. The subject is bound in such a way that his attention is always focussed on a single point. The light gives the impression of a chaotic, uncertain world, while in the centre, a specially trained agent provides what we call a 'Safe Zone'. A place in the subject's mind that the subject can take refuge in. It is important to establish this Safe Zone early, as the next stage in the process, the Penetration stage, is in many ways the most arduous. That is the stage where we strenuously interrogate the subject, discovering his weaknesses and exploiting them."

"Let me guess," Azula commented as the orange glow briefly crossed her soft features, "you take the carpet out from under him, but before you do, you give him something to hold on to. Your hand. At that point, he's yours to control."

"Precisely, Your Majesty," Long Feng confirmed, "after the Penetration stage we have a brief Re-establishment stage. After that comes the Deconstruction stage. This is probably the most illuminating stage if your intention is interrogation as well as re-education. Using the insights gained from the Penetration stage, we pry open the psyche of the subject and carefully categorise his innermost secrets. After this, with another Re-establishment stage, the subject is ready for full Re-education. With his most closely guarded secrets undermined, we use each painful memory as a starting point, letting the subject wilfully discard them by choosing a preferable memory. The memories he prefer are, of course, ours."

"So you can use these alternative memories to control the prisoner?" Azula questioned.

"Yes, Your Majesty. The easiest way to convince someone to do something is to make them believe they were going to do it anyway," Long Feng illuminated, "we can fine-tune the process to provide several different, indeed contradictory, memories in a single subject. The mind has many hidden layers, and while on one layer we can give the impression that nothing about the subject has changed, on another layer we can install the memory of mindless, willing footsoldier. With enough effort, we can even wipe an individual clean of any trace of their former life."

"What do these other stages involve?" Azula interrogated the Grand Secretary. The Colonel was still resisting, in the room beyond.

"Sensory deprivation, sensory overload, verbal techniques to disorient the subject," Long Feng continued, "it depends on the subject what the later stages will involve. If they have a specific fear or fetish, then that can often be utilised. The Establishment phase looks tame in comparison precisely because, in the end, the subject must _want _it."

"How long does this take?" Azula's eyes could be seen flicking towards Long Feng before disappearing again.

"Again, it depends on the subject, Your Majesty. More specifically their willpower," Long Feng informed, "there tends to be a set moment when the subject breaks. Most often it comes in the Penetration phase, though there are cases of subjects breaking even in the Establishment phase. But when this moment comes is up to the individual. Your typical juvenile delinquent, or even egotistical ringleader, doesn't take very long. A few hours, usually. But when the subject is particularly wilful, like this here Colonel Mongke, it can take considerably longer. We tend to avoid re-educating these kind of people, as often they're not worth the trouble, and usually simply execute them, though exceptions are made. After all, everyone breaks eventually."

"Define 'eventually', Long Feng?" Azula queried, getting dangerously impatient.

"For the Colonel?" Long Feng calculated, "I'd say around a week. Give or take a few days."

"Not good enough," Azula condemned blithely, "he needs to be ready by sunrise."

Long Feng raised his eyebrows in surprise. He made an impassioned appeal to the ruler of the Earth Kingdom, "but...that's _impossible_, Your Majesty! There is no way we can make that kind of schedule!"

"I'd reconsider that opinion, _Secretary_, if you don't want your peers to change it for you," Azula threatened, "what good are you to me otherwise?"

"Please, Princess, in order to accelerate the process, I can't just push at him harder," Long Feng protested, "it doesn't work like that. I need to find an insecurity to exploit if I want to break him."

"I already told you there's no secret to breaking someone," Azula crossed her arms, "and as a matter of fact, you already have an insecurity to exploit. He mentioned looking into the face of an eight-year-old kid after killing the boy's family and friends and realising he couldn't be anything but a soldier ever again. His exact words were 'normality is for other people'. Does that help?"

"That..._does _help...but..." Long Feng wondered out loud, mouthing the words Azula had just spoke, picking up on the tiny little detail and relating to something he heard, somewhere. It sounded incredibly familiar, and he found himself muttering, "...looking into the face of an eight-year-old...an eight-year-old..." as he walked to the row of documents along the wall and pulled out a chest in the 'Je' section. Azula peered aside curiously as the Grand Secretary slammed the chest onto the table and opened it, browsing his fingers rapidly through the scrolls. With a satisfied "aha!" he pulled out a particular scroll and laid it on the table, reading the calligraphy on the document as the light passed by.

"'Jet'..." Azula read over Long Feng's shoulder, "that was the leader of the terrorist group you used to exploit Colonel Yuung's insurgency, wasn't it? ...from your report, I was under the impression that you killed him?"

"It really is the funniest coincidence..." Long Feng unrolled the large, lengthy scroll, filled with details of Jet's life, complete with a stretch of paper that linked a gap in the scroll. The light danced across the page, revealing a childish scrawl of what looked like some kind of monster. A monster with a balding head, a nose-ring, a face as immoveable as a cliff and an intense pair of eyes. It was unmistakeably Colonel Mongke, "the boy was traumatised by the death of his parents at the hand of _this _man. And here we have that very same man marked by the same event."

"Would this be enough to speed up the process?" Azula questioned.

"Considerably, but not enough to meet your schedule, Your Majesty," Long Feng decided. Azula looked up from the drawing towards Mongke, fastened tight inside the metal chair, resisting the soothing voice of the Dai Li re-educator. A smile crept up her face. She had in her hands the key to breaking her himself. Her irises flared again.

"I'll take over the Re-education of the Colonel for a moment, Long Feng," Azula tore the sketch out of the scroll, and the Grand Secretary stammered at both the act of vandalism and the Fire Princess' determination to involve herself with the process.

"Y...Your Majesty! Are you entirely sure that's a good idea?" Long Feng immediately decided he must be suicidal for asking such a thing, but when the light danced around again, he was relieved that Azula was smiling back.

"He won't remember a thing anyway," the Fire Princess smirked, leaving the Observation Room quickly. Long Feng warily looked forward into the Re-education Room.

The soldier was still very conscious, if completely in the dark about what was going on. He hadn't said a word since the treatment had started. He just looked continuously at the Dai Li agent before him. He'd never seen one before, but he'd heard about them in his briefings, so had an inkling of what was expected of him, except that after several hours of blinking lights and a calm man telling him in uninterrupted prose how uncertain he was and how safety was so very close.

Wait a minute...was it the same man? It couldn't have been, he'd be just as exhausted as Mongke was if he was doing this for hours on end. Mongke might have been mistaken, since he had absolutely no clue how long he'd been here. It might have been days and it might have been minutes. He had absolutely no frame of reference. The voice did sound a little different, but Mongke couldn't place the transition. It was freakish...he'd been staring at this guy all the time and he'd never noticed him changing places with someone else. It wasn't as if he could look elsewhere. Even closing his eyes wasn't an option, with the circling light making him feel a splitting headache every time he tried. Mongke had only one thing to look at, and that was the guy in the middle.

Except the guy had transformed into Fire Princess Azula, and Mongke couldn't remember the transition there either. It only slowly dawned on him that she was right there in front of him, phasing in and out of light and shadow. He cursed himself sullenly. He was a soldier. He should be coping better than this. Azula had her hands on her hips, smiling slightly, standing in the circling light as the new island of stability to fix his retinas on.

"Oh come now, Mongke," Azula mocked lightly, "I complemented you on your honesty before. Why so coy now?"

Mongke just stared back. He really wasn't in the frame of mind to engage in clever wordplay. But Azula just stood there, patiently waiting for some kind of response. The other guy...guys...guy didn't seem open to conversation before, so he took the opportunity while it lay in front of him to speak his mind, "when the Fire Lord finds out about this, you're gonna wish I weren't so honest."

"What makes you think you're going to be in a position to tell _anyone _about this?" Azula spun her web.

"My men will come after me," Mongke smiled maliciously at the Princess, "no one messes with the Rough Rhinos and gets away with it."

"You have that much trust in 'your men'," Azula leant forward to hook one of her sharp, pointed fingernails around Mongke's nose-ring, tugging his head forward painfully inside the chair's head-restraints, "are you sure it's justified?"

"We're not back-stabbing royalty like you," Mongke grunted, "we're soldiers."

"Ah yes..." Azula unhooked Mongke's nose-ring and stood back up to her full height, taking a scrap of paper out from her pocket and unfolding it, "your own personal defence for _everything _you do. 'I'm a soldier' this. 'I'm a soldier' that. Tell me..." Azula held the piece of paper to Mongke's face, "...does this look like a soldier to you?"

The light passed in front of the paper, burning the scrawled image into Mongke's pupils. Even if it was a childish scribble, the..._thing _that was drawn on it...it may have been an effect of the light or sensory deprivation or something, but Mongke surprised himself by actually being frightened of the monster that stared at him out of the page. He mumbled, "...what is it?"

"It's you," Azula spoke satisfyingly.

Mongke felt a chill up his spine. This was stupid, he thought, and he vehemently denied it, "no it isn't!"

"That eight-year-old child disagreed," Azula caught Mongke in the web, "he grew up thinking this was the face of the entire Fire Nation. Probably killed many of your fellow soldiers in the process. He's dead now. Killed by his own mania."

"Why should I care about that?" Mongke shook in his seat.

"You care because you didn't kill him then," Azula pulled the paper back, relieving Mongke of having to stare into his own face, "it would have solved all your problems, and this kid wouldn't have grown up with an axe to grind. Ironic, really, that keeping him alive was actually a more monstrous act than killing him."

"I'm not a monster," Mongke asserted.

"Oh, of course not, you're a _soldier_. How could I forget?" Azula tapped the side of her head theatrically, "tell me...out of curiosity here...why _did _you kill his parents?"

Mongke could have kept silent. That probably would have been the smart thing. But he was tired, and he'd been keeping this inside his heart for eight years. For some reason Azula's stable presence felt reassuring. It was insane to think this way, he realised, but it just felt so comfortable to talk, "the Provincial Governor suspected that the village this kid lived in was a source of local resistance to the Fire Nation. I led the Rough Rhinos to torch the village. I suspected the kid's house was hiding an arms cache. I didn't want to risk my men by going inside, so I burnt it to the ground with everyone still inside."

"Was there an arms cache?" Azula asked politely.

"No..." Mongke answered neutrally, "but you have to use your best judgement to keep your men safe, and the Fire Nation. There's no time for second-guessing. I did the right thing. Any other soldier in my position would have done the same."

"Again with this 'soldier' stuff," Azula dismissed, "be honest with yourself for once, Mongke. You _are _a monster. You're a monster by nature. Covering it up by calling it 'soldiering' is just dancing around the issue. You don't seek glory or recognition, you don't seek the advancement of your Nation or your principles, you only seek bloodshed for bloodshed's sake. That's the classic definition of 'monster' by any reckoning."

"_I'm not a monster!_" Mongke spat, tearing in futility at his restraints, "I'm a soldier of the Fire Lord. I do his bidding because that's what I'm meant to do. I'm meant to fight, and to scorch the earth. That doesn't make me a monster."

"Well answer me this, Colonel Mongke," Azula probed, "what will you do when the war ends? You can't go home. There will be no more battles to fight. Swords turned into ploughshares and all that nonsense. You barely have anyone to fight right now. You're stuck here chasing after fugitives. You already said normality was for other people, so what happens when normality is all there is?"

Mongke remained silent. He didn't have an answer to that. It was irrelevant anyway. He'd already asked himself a thousand times with no sign of an answer, and this was no different. Except this time Azula wasn't playing by Mongke's mental rules.

"I can answer your question, Colonel," Azula continued, "you'll be snuffed out. Made redundant. The world will have no further use of you and discard you like a used fire-flake carton."

"So be it," Mongke answered simply. It felt like he was getting his resistance back. That was good. It would stop her being so smug, he felt. Except she still remained there, smiling back at him.

"You weren't always a monster, were you?" Azula asked, "that eight-year-old kid crying his eyes out might have convinced you, but what about before? Why did you fight then?"

"The usual things," Mongke would have shrugged if he was in any position to, "honour, glory, duty, wanting to be a hero...that kinda stuff."

"In other words, you had a purpose. That's what made you join," Azula had hands on hips again, "how would you like a purpose again?"

"Come on," Mongke dismissed, "you're even more of a monster than I am. Why would I follow you?"

"Because you were always meant to. Everyone has a purpose, and right now I'm the only one in the world capable of revealing yours," Azula smiled slyly, holding out the scrawled drawing once again, "unless you want to be _this _for the rest of your life. Just keep that in mind."

Mongke stared at the monster, and the monster stared into Mongke. Even when the drawing was no longer there, the monster remained, at the back of his mind. He only distractedly noticed a while later that Azula was gone, to be replaced by the soothing-voiced guy again. Or maybe it was another guy? He couldn't tell, but he was missing Azula's presence already. She showed a way out to him that had never opened to him before...a way to stop being a monster. It remained at the back of his mind, taunting him mercilessly. He didn't want it there anymore. He wanted it expelled for good.

Long Feng actually jumped when the golden eyes flared next to him. He hadn't seen the Princess enter the Observation Room. It was moments like this that made him realise why she was welcomed so enthusiastically by the Dai Li...at heart, she really was one of them. He voiced some admiration, "I believe that'd be more than sufficient, Your Majesty. We can start the Penetration stage inside an hour, and move on to the Deconstruction stage a little after midnight. Usefully, there isn't much to Re-educate, so I believe sunrise would be a realistic timetab..."

"Long Feng. Your opinion," Azula requested, "if my father were to discover what I'm doing, how do you imagine things will go?"

Long Feng considered the question carefully, "hmm...'not well' would be my best guess."

"I've reconsidered my opinion on the viability of an Earth Navy," Azula spoke abruptly, "I will organise the transfer of materials for the construction of advanced warships, rather than the rickety wooden jokes you have at the moment."

"Am I to assume this prospective Navy will be expected to perform against opponents _other _than the Water Tribe?" Long Feng asked politely.

Azula ignored the question, "once the Re-education is complete, have this equipment transferred to Pingfang Bay. My contacts will reach you at the port. They'll ensure you'll travel there in secrecy."

"And...who are these 'contacts' you speak of?" Long Feng probed further.

"You're awfully inquisitive, Grand Secretary," Azula cocked a glance, "tell me...you said earlier that everyone breaks eventually. Speaking candidly, how long would _I _take to break?"

"3 months, Your Majesty," Long Feng answered without hesitation. He'd calculated it long ago. The moving glow passed before the slit once again, and below the flaring golden irises was etched a wide, knowing smile.

"That's all the time I need," said Azula, before stepping out of the Observation Room.

* * *

Yin and Mayu led the attack along the balcony, bypassing the firewall, running full tilt down the narrow walkways either side of the Engine Room with their arms stretched out into the watery pit below, trailing streams of flame from their fingertips. Once halfway along each walkway they both turned, clapped their hands together and shot forth long streaks of flame at the Shachihoko below.

The Shachihoko rose up on their pillars of water to avoid the flaming streams, and scanned their empty eyes over the line of opponents armed with whatever was closest to hand. The firebenders switched from streams to blasts, and the Shachihoko adapted, blocking and swerving with their control of the water. They didn't tolerate the firebenders' presence for long, as Mayu pushed her breath through her fist to attack the Shachihoko only for her fist to suddenly block the passage of her breath. She felt like her arm was bulging, and gripped it fiercely with her other hand, muttering "oh no you don't..."

It was to little avail, as her other arm was pulled back as well. Her chest was constricted from the inside out as she rose bodily from the surface of the balcony. The same was happening with Yin, who was visibly panicking at the sensation of both losing control of his body and feeling like his insides were being squished. In an instant they were both pressed harshly against the pipes and panels of the Engine Room wall, completely immobilised. The other crew members, somewhat reluctantly, lined the balcony and wielded their weapons. A couple jabbed their pikes at the river spirits, only to be dragged over the edge when the creatures grabbed onto the ends of the pikes and pulled hard. They were completely ineffectual.

Sokka and Shui looked from the sidelines at this developing mess. The ship convulsed as another Shachihoko sacrificed himself in the furnaces. Sokka could see a pattern forming, and grabbed onto Shui's arms to yell over the shouting and smouldering of the Engine Room, "they can't leave the water! We don't need to face them down! We only need to get the water _outta _the Engine Room!"

Shui actually smiled, in spite of the situation, "good thing we fixed th' pumps then, huh!?" She leapt over from the end of the balcony to the pumping controls, fitted into an alcove halfway up the wall to the right of the engine. She called out to Sokka, "we gotta get all th' valves open 'fore we turn this baby on! We won't get 'nuff power if we don't! Th' God of Steel's flat out as it is!"

Sokka glanced over at the engine, hissing and pumping and rumbling and bursting veins like there was no tomorrow...which admittedly there might not be. The God of Steel, this fantastically human invention, was reaching the end of its tether. He needed to act fast, "gotcha!" He slid down the ladder and ran to the instrument panel, pulling down as many levers as he could get his hands on.

"Wait!" Shui called down, "don't open valve 13!"

"Uh...I just did!" Sokka admitted.

"Oh fer..." Shui groaned before a pipe exploded in the alcove she was squatting in. She quickly set about screwing it shut, "don't worry 'bout it! Jus' widen th' valves y'opened! I'll tell ya when it's safe ta open more!"

"Okay!" Sokka called up, latching onto two wheel handles and straining his muscles in twisting them round as fast as humanly possible. He had to concentrate on one after a while as the sweat on his palms was starting to make his hands slide off. He never dared slow down. But he was momentarily distracted by what sounded like a war cry from the balcony above, beyond the firewall.

"_Ya wanna taste of steel!?_" Wan challenged the Shachihoko, raising his spanner up high, "_come 'n get it ye worthless fossils!_"

Wan leapt off of the balcony and wielded his spanner with both hands, bringing its mighty weight down upon the river spirits and letting loose a guttural scream. The creatures didn't even flinch. One gazed around and halted Wan in mid-air, his battle-cry squeezed into a surprised gurgle, and flung him vigorously through the firewall and into the engine. The engineer crumpled down at the base of the God of Steel, spanner still limply in his hand. Sokka was about to leave his work and help him until Shui called from above, "ignore 'im! He gets thumped like that all th' time 'round here! Get them valves open!"

Sokka looked up and nodded, pushing the wheel handles round harder than ever. Massive plumes of steam rose over the firewall as another two Shachihoko sacrificed themselves. Afraid to stop, neither Sokka nor Shui were paying attention as the firewall shrank into non-existence, though Shui had to hang on for dear life as the entire room shook relentlessly from the energy spreading through the ship. This time the rumble didn't entirely die down, and became constant, the sound of bulkheads buckling becoming a consistent fixture of their work.

The Shachihoko flung away more of the crew-members attempting a last-ditch effort to keep the spirits from advancing, but as the way to the engine was cleared away, the creatures slowly advanced, to finally overthrow this new god.

* * *

Passengers and crew members clutched whatever they could to remain stable...including each other. The Shachihoko could feel all of the humans clustering together, hoping to ward off the inevitable by finding comfort in each other. Xuan had no one to comfort him, only the giggling, dripping, pale, veiny children watching over him with what looked like amusement. They didn't seem to express anything except constant, rapturous happiness, and a certain slyness on top of that, like they got away with something naughty. Xuan could feel and hear the rumbling, cowering as he was in the corner of the bridge, but was too terrified out of his mind to ask what it was.

"I'm...look I'm...I'm honestly, really, really, really sorry about what happened to you," Xuan tried to reason, "but...you know...you don't have to kill _all _of us! I mean...I...I...I could help you! You know...try to...uh...make your case! Get you a new home built! Good as new for your new...um...'brood'. You've...certainly made a very compelling case...and...and...and it would work out better if you had someone to represent you. Like...a...an _ambassador_, say! Yes! I could be your ambassador! Do what you like with everyone else, sure! But I have connections back home! I'd be _very _useful to you if you could just...consider..."

"We already had an ambassador," Nandi's voice seemed to divorce itself from his mouth, as somehow he was able to talk and giggle convulsively at the same time, "the link between the spirit world and the man world, and he betrayed us. What makes you think we'll trust a snivelling little back-stabber like you?"

"But...then...why are you keeping me alive?" Xuan wondered aloud, "you must be keeping me alive for _some _reason..."

Nandi continued smiling and giggling, all the while increasing in intensity. The giggling was starting to echo around the inside of Xuan's skull. "You wanna know what that sound is?" Nandi asked the administrator. Xuan nodded slowly, and Nandi continued "that's the sound of the God of Steel dying. You're one of the humans who made sure this thing was created, the kind that makes the decision to bulldoze a mountain and wipes out species just to make some coppers. You'll be the last to see your god die...as many others before you saw their gods die."

Xuan had reached the end of his tolerance. He needed to get away. He scrabbled on all fours away from the corner towards the door to the bridge, but he didn't get far. Tiny hands clutched his hands, feet and shoulders and pinned him against the wall. All he could see in his field of vision was those tiny faces, grinning insanely, giggling endlessly, descending on him like vultures.

* * *

Aang stood up on his feet, water and sweat glistening on his skin in the orange flame bursting in from above, swinging around in the puddle from river spirit to river spirit as they closed in, staring emptily at the brown-haired Airbender. He was lost and hopelessly confused, with no ability to bend, no friends to call upon, no means of escape and no chance of living more than about a minute. But he remained steadfast. He was determined to remain, and that determination did not waver for a second. Only problem was that it was a meaningless state of affairs if he genuinely couldn't do anything.

The Shachihoko slowly raised sharp tendrils of water out of the puddle, one by one, and had them aimed straight at the Avatar. At a moments notice, they could swish forth and skewer him with the smallest amount of effort. For a moment he thought this was it, this was how the Avatar would die...a marked improvement from being chained to a pipe, but still hardly a good way to go. Except the Shachihoko had decided that it wasn't going to happen that way. The tendrils changed direction, pointing slowly downward at Toph, pinned to the hull, at Katara, eyes slowly opening as she lay crumpled in a heap, and at Momo, pausing in his effort to drag Toph upright to cower under his wings. The old spirits had decided...the Avatar had to die, but first he had to suffer the same fate as they did...seeing their loved ones die first.

Aang shook his head in shocked despair. The Shachihoko remained concentrating on him, watching his torment. He was dumbstruck at his powerlessness at preventing his friends...his beloved...die in front of him. His vision turned red, his senses heightened to agonising intensity, as he wished fervently, above everything else he ever wished for, for these things poised to kill his friends to burn, to perish in as hellish a flame as he could muster. He could feel the energy in the gas fire above him, and as his hatred grew so did the flame. It grew so large that his back was starting to burn from the intensity. Aang barely noticed, breathing harshly enough for oxygen to flow rigorously through his body, turning his vision even redder. All his rage was directed at the Shachihoko, who remained infuriatingly emotionless.

The tendrils drew back, preparing to deliver the killing thrust to Aang's friends, and Aang's anger boiled over into action. His arms spun round, feeling the flame intimately, and through his breath the flame was spun around his body into a loop. Fiery eyes fixed on the river spirits, his arms thrust outward, feeding them with his hate. The flame burst out in a massive storm of fire, fed continuously with the Avatar's rage, and the mask-faces took the full force of it. Their water-bodies were boiled away into nothing, and the cracks in their faces spread until eventually they burst apart. All the Shachihoko around Aang perished in the blaze, one at a time, but the last Airbender was so blinded with fury that he kept feeding the flame, right up until his energy was spent and his anger sated, when he flopped into the puddle, exhausted.

Toph sprang up as the flame died down, picking up Momo and being momentarily overcome with a need to cradle the critter, just to calm herself down. She'd never been that close to such a fierce flame before. She hadn't a moment to lose, however, and the blind Earthbender quickly grappled the winged lemur and shook him into action, yelling loudly, "_where's Katara!?_"

Momo cowered momentarily, then scrabbled onto Toph's shoulder to point her towards the fallen Waterbender, who was groaning and just rising on her arms. Toph ran over and felt for Katara's shoulders, tugging her up frantically and shouting, "c'mon, Sugar Queen! You can get your beauty sleep later!"

Katara shook herself out of her concussion and pushed Toph off, planting her feet in the puddle and flowing her arms around, yelling back "alright! Alright!" She swerved around to make the water in the puddle flow back into the holes either side of the hull, which was just as well since a moment later her arms sprung back as her effort was forced against by yet more Shachihoko trying to get in. With all her might, she pushed back, informing everyone else, "there's more of 'em! A lot more!"

"Great..." Toph exclaimed, tugging on Momo to show her where Aang was, "hey, dead-weight! Y'got any ideas!?" Toph was met with complete silence, which she didn't take kindly to, "dead-weight! C'mon! I could _feel _what you did before! Now stop being a wuss and help! Dead-weight!"

Aang wasn't listening to Toph. He just sat in the puddle and looked in shock at his hands. The awful reality of the deed he had committed was just sinking in.

**To Be Continued…**

_**Avatar: The Last Airbender **_Concept and Characters © Nickelodeon 2005-06

* * *

**Author's Note: **Woah! I'm on a roll here! If I keep this up, this whole saga will be done by the end of Monday! Just two more parts to go and I'll be damned if it isn't getting exciting.

Now, 'Dan' asked me a question in a review for the last part, and since I've no other means of giving him a message back and he asked _ever _so nicely...he asked if I'd read Terry Pratchett, and what recommendations I'd give for reading. To answer his question, I've _grown up _around Terry Pratchett and have read most of the Discworld novels at one time or another (up to about 'Thief of Time', around which point I kind of lost track), and though I'm probably the last person to go to for literary recommendations (most of my influences are in visual media, not literature) continuing in the vein of famous English authors I think I can make some recommendations depending on which side of Terry Pratchett you like.

If you like his off-beat humour, Douglas Adams is the way to go. Rather more random than Pratchett novels, but 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' has been very influential and a great source of mirth for many. If you like his interpretations on the power of myth, I'd recommend Neil Gaiman. I've heard nothing but good things about 'Anansi Boys'. And if you like his thought-provoking high fantasy, then the grand ruler of the genre is probably Philip Pullman. These the authors _I _enjoy, but whether you'd agree is pretty much up to you.

For everyone else...ignore this. I witter much.


	14. Prajapati

A crew member flew across the room and bounced harshly off of the engine, shaking Wan awake from his debilitating concussion. Rubbing his head painfully, the sound of yet another pressure leak erupting from the God of Steel sped his recovery, as his irritation propelled him upright to clamp his spanner around the exploded valve, screwing it shut with an almighty tug, cursing "c'mon, My Lady! Don'tcha _dare _forsake me now!"

Getting his bearings was hard to do, since his entire vision seemed clouded with steam. The Engine Room had been transformed into a rumbling, spitting, fuming, dying furnace in itself. He kept his feet planted just above the water that still flooded the Room, and he readied his spanner to face whatever horrors would emerge from the mist. And emerge they did, as white, cracked masks, staring through eyes of infinite sadness and rage, drifted slowly into focus, one at a time. With the steam masking everything, they looked like they were suspended in the air, peering impassively at the Chief Engineer.

The spanner vibrated from Wan's incessant shaking, but he still stood firm. Nothing was going to topple _his _god. Especially not these freaks, he thought. The Shachihoko paused before him, and did nothing except look, their empty eyes staring at him incessantly. The situation was so bizarre that Wan found himself chuckling. The Shachihoko didn't budge.

_You killed our children._

"I wish I did! I'd've done a damned better job at finishing y'off if I was in charge!" Wan challenged, his abject terror somehow feeding a fool's bravery in the Chief Engineer. He could have faced down armies in this state, but it was volatile, unstable, "don'tcha see!? It ain't yer time no more! Yer time's _over_! It's _finished_! It's _her _time now! An' nuthin' y'can do will stop it!"

Wan pointed behind him at the God of Steel. The Shachihoko's gaze never moved.

_Why did you kill our children?_

"'cuz that's jus' progress, ye freaks! Progress an' a better tomorrow fer My Lady! That extra few minutes of travellin' time sliced off? Y'think ye deserve even _that_? Ye're _worthless_!" Wan was shaking like a leaf and still going, "ye can't accept yer days're done! We don't need ya no more! We never did! We found sumthin' better, an' we forged her with our own hands! We don't need th' old gods! We don't need _nuthin'_! Ye were extinct th' moment we humans came along! We're bigger than ya! An' there ain't nuthin' y'can do ta stop it!"

The Shachihoko didn't do anything to interrupt Wan's little spiel, and the Chief Engineer erupted into laughter, raising his spanner high above him, "yeah! That's right! Y'ere scared! Y'ere scared'a what we can do! Ye should be scared! Nuthin' can stop her! _Nuthin' can stop th' God of Steel!_"

Two blue streaks seared the air horizontally in front of him, but nothing seemed to change. Confused, he stared at the spanner distantly as it separated into three parts, splashing into the puddle ineffectually. The spanner that he'd carried around for decades, that had lasted being dropped into acid, crushed in-between cogs and once even had a cargo container dropped on it was chopped into non-existence by a slice of water.

The Chief Engineer stopped laughing. Cradling the remains of the spanner, fear finally overtook him. He stared back at the Shachihoko's faces, eyes filling with tears, trying to say something that might have made everything better. His god had deserted him...all she did was fume behind him, unable to do anything to the mask-faces that stared indifferently back. He lost himself in their eyes, senses flooded with their loss and their sadness, and their endless fury. They could not forgive, they could not even imagine forgiveness. It was a foreign concept to them. Wan's knees buckled in the face of the infinite, unable to grasp it. The infinite condemned him.

_YOU KILLED OUR CHILDREN_.

Wan's teeth chattered, his throat gurgled, and the stump that remained of his spanner fell from his hands. He broke down and fell to his knees, fists held to his chest clenched tightly. His old eyes bulged with complete terror. All he believed in, all he put his trust in, collapsed like a house of cards. No matter what humanity did, the things it achieved, the strides it made, the gods it made, it was nothing compared to the awesome power of nature's anger. It gave life and took it, with impunity, and he dared to think that he could stand up to it and win. His hubris imploded, and all that was left was a shell of his former self.

"_I'm sorry!_" Wan pleaded, bawling his eyes out like a child, "_I'm sorry! Forgive me, please! I didn't...I'm sorry! I'm sorry!_"

The Shachihoko paid no heed. Dozens of tendrils slowly raised from the water, aiming at Wan and the engine, sentencing the murderer and his god to execution. Wan wept in the face of nature, in the face of the eternal and endless grief of the world he dared to think he had dominion over, and slaughtered with impunity.

* * *

Aang stared at his hands. He was meant to protect all living things, wasn't he? More than that, it was what he was...or was the message different? What was he meant to do? Whenever he was this angry, he had felt the urge to destroy the world, and now without the Avatar State he had apparently found a new means of doing this. This was what fire represented, after all...it consumed all living things.

"C'mon, Aang! When I say 'dead-weight' I'm not talking to someone else!" Toph dragged Aang off his feet by his shoulders, and singularly failed to drag him out of his self-imposed funk as well, "if you go into Avatar-go-bye-bye-land one more time, then that does it. I'm _leaving _you here."

"You're...wait, we're going?" Aang shook himself out of his self-doubt to focus, steadying himself after another bulkhead-rippling rumble, "where _are_ we going?"

"The ship's falling apart! We need to evacuate and stuff!" Toph argued, "this whole thing's gonna blow sky-high!"

"_Toph!_" Katara shouted in strained tones. He was pushing her arms hard either side of herself. The holes either side of the hull were bulging with water being pushed back by Katara's bending, but they in turn were being pushed inward by something outside. Katara had her teeth gritted in effort trying to keep the creatures back, "...if I let go...they're gonna rush in...and I can't stop them this time. I don't know...how long...I can last..."

Toph placed a hand on Momo, perched on her shoulder, as she paused. She hadn't given much serious thought to the possibility of dying. It had just never occurred to her, even with a dead boy standing right next to her. ...like heck was she going to start now, "how many more can there be!?"

"Try _hundreds_..." Katara grunted, "all pressed up...against...the hull..."

"All pressed up..." something popped inside Toph's head, and she excitedly dropped to her knees and spread her palms across the floor, buried underneath the puddle, "_that's it! _The keel! They're pressing up against something _I can use!_"

She held an arm up and flicked her fingers into the shape of a claw. The armband on the raised arm mimicked the pattern, forming a sharp blade. Digging into the bottom of the hull, she raised up her other arm to do the same, puncturing the hull as hard as she could and trying to peel back the inner, pure-metal layer a piece at a time. She told the others, "I'll need my hands and my feet for this! If I can plant them on the outer keel, I can bend it!"

"And then what?" Aang asked warily.

"_Whaddya think!?_" Toph snarled, busily peeling back bits and chunks of the inner keel, hindered by the water she had to work under, "they're gonna get it now. No one messes with me and gets away with it. _Not even gods._"

Aang's stomach fell. There was something about all this that hit too close to home. The entire Shachihoko race was there, clustered around the hull...the last of their kind.

* * *

"_Punch it!_" Shui screamed, leaping down next to Sokka to tug viciously on her half of the pump control cylinder. Sokka tugged the other half, spinning it around as fast as possible. It was heavy and needed inhuman amounts of effort to twist round, but with their adrenaline bursting through the roof of the Engine Room, they had it twisting around so hard that the pump mechanisms were finding it hard to keep up.

The rumbling increased in intensity. The entire floor was beginning to buckle. But, gradually and then rapidly, the water level in the Engine Room dropped. Out of the corner of his eye, Sokka could see the Shachihoko towering over a weeping, crumpled Wan, at first ready to strike but soon pulling against the great pull of the drainage pumps, fitted into the corners of the Engine Room. They tried hard to remain, but the engine was vibrating off its hinges as it pushed the pumps to their limit.

"C'mon! C'mon! C'mon! Faster! Faster! Faster! Faster!" Shui chanted desperately, as the both of them kept tugging hard on the pump control to push it harder and harder to expel the river spirits. They were just about succeeding, as the creatures strained, pulled on their pillars of water, but still one by one were dragged into the holes. Wan might not have been wrong about one thing...human invention was capable of some awesome and terrible things. The two of them kept twisting the pump well past the point where it was safe to assume the Shachihoko were gone, until Shui stopped and flopped over onto the top of the cylinder, gasping to get her energy back, "that...that should do it. Th' pumps'll push them things inta th' sea."

"Great...where all the others are," Sokka gasped, lying back against the wall to catch his breath. He didn't have any time to relax, though, as the panel he was resting on burst outward, knocking him forwards into the side of the engine. Peeling his face off, he looked irritably into Shui's face, which in turn looked terror-stricken. She had realised something bad. Very bad.

Their eyes shot up to the bursting valves and pipes that shot out of the engine, billowing steam everywhere. The floor shook and the gas lights that lined the sides of the Engine Room flared and burst all at once. Sokka lost his footing and had to grab onto Shui's hand to keep him spiralling head-first into the instrument panel. An ear-splitting whining sound shot out from the God of Steel, and the _Gang Shen _groaned along her entire length. Sokka peered to Shui for answers.

"We pushed her too hard!" Shui gasped, "she needs ta cool down, slowly! If anythin' stops...th' whole ship'll explode!"

"But..." Sokka realised, "they have the Bridge! They'd have an emergency stop switch, right!? If they do that..."

Shui squeezed Sokka's hands and looked at him in despair, "...there's nothing we can do..."

* * *

The mother and daughter huddled close. So did the lady assistants. So did most of the passengers and crew of the FLS_ Gang Shen_. If they were going to die, they didn't want to die alone.

* * *

Katara's knees fell into the puddle. The effort was exhausting her. Sweat rolled down her cheek as the holes in the side of the ship bulged further and further into the ship. She called out, "_hurry up!_"

Aang rubbed his hands together nervously. It was all happening again. It was all happening again in front of him...and he could stop it. Of course he could...but he had no choice.

Toph tore off another piece of metal. There was enough room now, she realised, but in planting her hands down she discovered a problem...the water was too high. To kneel down enough, she needed to be completely underwater. The one thing that sometimes woke her up at nights, and she had to suffer it for them all to live. Ah well...she decided...no time like the present to rid herself of a phobia or two. The blind girl breathed in deep and held her breath before disappearing under the surface.

She hated water, with a passion that few could possibly fathom. She'd have enough of it, and gratefully spread her fingers along the impure metal beneath her. She could feel the earth inside...the faint echo of solid ground. At long last...after a journey such as this...she had reached it. Solid ground...or at least something like it. Her feet stepped onto it, and, preparing herself, she thumped the metal hard with her palms.

Toph was overloaded with sense. She'd been denied it for such a while that she drunk the sensation hungrily. No one could ever feel like this. Only she could do it, and that was what made her the greatest Earthbender in the world...no one could disagree now. She felt it all...the water making its motions around the keel...its shape and structure...its rivets and bolts...and clutching onto it were...were...

Toph could feel them...huddling up against the hull. Hundreds of them. The entire species really was there, clamouring close for the demise of the Avatar, or for getting their children back or whatever insane thought processes went on behind those masks. She could pick out each one individually, feel each and every single one of them, all over the keel, moving and watching and waiting. Feeling down...one was staring straight through the keel, right below her fingers. It felt like it was staring right at her, and underneath the water all they had to separate them was a thin layer of metal. She held the fate of an entire species in her hands, and she was staring right into the face of the species she was about to make extinct.

Toph hesitated, as much from the audacity of what she was about to do as its morality. Never mind if she should do it...could she? This trip had fed her doubts, and now those doubts were coming back to haunt her.

* * *

Xuan could see it through the maze of giggling faces. The tiny hand reaching up to the emergency stop switch. That switch with the label underneath explicitly telling anyone thinking of using it to never use it in any circumstances whatsoever.

The administrator drew his arms over his chest. The giggling reached a crescendo, and whatever trace of Nandi was left was vanished. All that was left was a puppet. A giggling, convulsing, jerking, leaking, puppet. All of the children were transforming into the same thing, their giggling rising into hysteria, no longer smiling at anything, just grinning inanely in complete rapture, their final task close to done.

The tiny hand rested on the emergency stop switch, clawed its fingers around it, and began to pull.

* * *

Sokka and Shui, the Engine Room falling all around them, clutched each other tightly. They didn't want to die alone either.

* * *

The Shachihoko gathered. It was so close. Their vengeance against everyone, even the Avatar, was deliriously close. Nature didn't need to fall back against man. It could fight back. And win. And take back from the humans what was taken from them. They watched as they always watched, emptily.

* * *

Katara sagged. Her arms dropped slowly, overwhelmed. She cried in exhaustion, "...I...can't..."

Toph, gripping the keel, could feel the presence of the Shachihoko closely. They closed in. It wasn't a question of whether she could or not. She had to.

Aang felt a tear fall down his cheek. There was no other way, but he still couldn't accept it. Unable to reconcile, he simply murmured, "...no..."

Toph pressed her palms down and twisted her feet, squeezing down on the keel.

* * *

Across the entire surface of the keel, the metal twisted and pierced. Spike after spike erupted from its surface, thrusting straight into the Shachihoko. The spikes pierced through between their infinite eyes and out the other side, leading the mask-faces to split into two, one after another. The pieces clung onto the _Gang Shen _for a brief moment before falling away, down into the blue abyss. In a split second, the last of the Shachihoko ceased to be.

* * *

The tiny hand fell away from the switch. The giggling gurgled into a strangled gasp, and Nandi flopped to the ground, the grin disappearing from his young face. The other children fell lifeless around Xuan, as the force that acted upon them disappeared. They were just children now. Or...at least they _were_.

Xuan, at first frightened by dead children flopping down all around him, laughed in relief as he realised he was going to get through this alive after all. He'd shown them! He had faced the soldiers of the damned and yet he still lived! He wiped his brow with relief. There was nothing that could stop him now...he'd be famous! The one who got away! That's what he'll be...the one who controlled the only ship who survived the Mo Ce Sea attacks! His relief was palpable, still subsisting even after something clunked behind the locked door to the bridge.

Looking up, light flooded into the darkened bridge, and in the doorway, at the head of a distressed mob of parents, Kyo was shuddering in grief-stricken anger. She stared tearfully, silently and piercingly at Xuan. He was wondering distantly why she was so angry, until it dawned on him that here he was, the only living soul on the bridge, with the bodies of their dead children at his feet. He gulped.

"It wasn't me..." Xuan shook his head panickly, shrinking back from the distressed mother, "It wasn't me! Oh...no...no...no sweet spirit to Agni! _It__ wasn't me!_"

There is nothing in the world that could stand against a mother's grief.

* * *

Sokka and Shui remained locked in each others' arms, afraid to let each other go. They didn't notice the violent shuddering was dying down, even if it was slight. It took Captain Mayu peering around the edge of the pumping alcove to knock them out of their seclusion.

"I'm sure I'm interrupting something, but if you don't mind, can you help clear up this mess?" Mayu barged in, forcing Sokka and Shui to step apart from each other and cover up their mutual embarrassment.

"S...sorry ma'am!" Shui squealed, "s..so...is it over?"

"Looks like...we just got word back from the bridge. Those missing kids have been found..." Mayu stopped herself from saying something, believing there were things that were better left unsaid, concentrating on Shui in particular, "and Chief Wan is no longer in any position to run things, so I suppose that makes you Acting Chief Engineer for now. See that the engine is brought back into working order as soon as possible."

"Yes ma'am!" Shui nodded. Mayu ran quickly away to sort out the rest of the ship, leaving the two of them to share a deeply awkward moment. Shui breathed in deeply, "well...might as well make ourselves handy..."

"Yeah..." Sokka chimed in distantly. His attention was distracted by Chief Engineer Wan, who was crouched in front of the God of Steel cradling the stump of his spanner in both hands, rocking back and forth with a wide, distant look in his eyes, completely cut off from the rest of the world.

He mumbled under his breath in a constant loop, "...I'm sorry...I'm sorry...I'm sorry..."

* * *

Toph drew her palms back, pulling the spikes back into the hull of the _Gang Shen_. Once done, she burst through the surface of the water and spluttered, breathing deeply from holding her breath for so long. Toph's sudden re-appearance shocked Katara momentarily, still heavily tired and lying on her back from pushing against the water so hard.

Momo flew down to land on Toph's shoulder, but the Earthbender shooed the winged lemur away, standing tall with hands on hips and looking positively imperial. She stomped the hull and demanded to know, "_whose ship is this!?_"

Katara groaned in tiredness, rubbing the side of her head irritably, "I guess it has to be yours..."

"_Damn right, it's mine!_" Toph grinned manically, before slyly extending a hand upwards, "and as the greatest Earthbender ever to walk on solid ground, I will kindly allow this lemur to grace his feet with my shoulder."

Momo wearily glided overhead before finally settling down on her hand, patting his way to perch on her shoulder and sagging in disappointment. Katara rubbed her eyes and peered around...noticing Aang sitting by himself with his back to the others. Concerned, she stood up and walked over, laying a hand on his shoulder, "...you okay?"

Aang hesitated before answering, "...yeah. I'm okay."

"Aang, you really don't need to beat yourself up over this," Toph interrupted and chimed in herself, "I saw these things...well, 'saw' them...you know what I mean. They were nothing. They were shells. They didn't deserve saving."

"They were going to kill everyone, Aang," Katara reasoned, "we didn't have a choice."

"I know..." Aang looked up at the cathedral of iron above him, "we did what we had to do. Maybe it was meant to be this way. If something threatens life, no matter what it is, human or spirit, needs to be dealt with..." He cradled himself sullenly, "...but that doesn't make me feel any better."

"That's why you're going to learn Firebending, so you can be the Avatar again," Katara soothed, "so that you can make everything better."

"Yes..." Aang stood up on his two feet, facing them with a renewed sense of purpose and resolve, "it's what I have to do, and this is why I need to do it. The world needs me, and I can't run away from it any longer. I will do whatever it takes, and more than that, I _will _restore balance to this world. It's what I'm meant to do. It's what I _am_. And _nothing _is going to change that!"

Surprised by the forcefulness of Aang's determination, Katara and Toph both nodded in resolve. Even Momo felt obliged to join in. In the depths, where the old and the new clashed tragically, they renewed their pledge to save the world from itself.

**To Be Continued…**

_**Avatar: The Last Airbender **_Concept and Characters © Nickelodeon 2005-06

* * *

**Author's Note: **How did I do it? This story that has been moving slower than the Somme Offensive, and then I go and write three parts in only two days. I'm done! The story is all done! ..._how!? _I...do not...understand!

I've been really struggling with this, but now, just as I decided to take a lengthy hiatus, all of a sudden I'm _enjoying _it again. It doesn't affect my decision though. My fan-ficcing has been interfering with my schoolwork, and now I've completed the story over the weekend I won't have to write it during the working week. I can concentrate. But there's one more Rough Rhinos bit coming up in the final section that I had so much fun with that it's really got me hyped up about working on more...but it will have to come later. Dissertation on Karl Popper awaits!

The next part will be posted tomorrow evening, since staggered releases are apparently better read. Enjoy!


	15. Forging Dawn

The ship began moving ahead again just as the sun rose. With the summer winds being so light and still, apart from the change in the pitch in the engines, Captain Mayu found that she could tell how fast the ship was travelling from the force of the wind that blew in her face through the gaping hole where a window used to be. If it wasn't for the fierce winds of autumn, she was actually thinking of keeping the window this way.

She sat at the navigation table while Yin held the wheel. The makeshift arrangement where Hong Yu Guo Service personnel stood in as extra crew members meant that the aftermath was handled surprisingly well, but there was still only so many experienced officers on board, and they had gotten thin on the ground thanks to the incident. That was another thing that crossed Mayu's mind...how long it would be before this became an Incident with a capital 'I'. She was becoming aware that her mind was getting preoccupied by flash-in-the-pan thoughts like these. Probably a consequence of being awake all night and powered by what was either her twelfth or her fourteenth cup of high-energy tea.

She rubbed her eyes and marked the course ahead. They'd be at Naha in only a few hours. With the engines almost exploding from being maxed out yesterday, that wasn't too surprising. She leant back to face Lieutenant Yin, "modify course 20 degrees port, Lieutenant."

"Aye," Yin acknowledged, tugging the wheel left a few notches, sighing loudly, "I can tell you this much, ma'am, I'm looking forward to collapsing onto a large, comfortable bed on solid earth for once."

"It would be a fairly safe assumption that they'll grant us leave for the next week or two," Mayu twiddled the compass around the map some more, "but if you get the slightest chance for rest, grab it. The authorities are going to be swarming all over this mess."

"Do you think this means the Mo Ce attacks are over, ma'am?" Yin rested on the wheel.

"I think they probably are, considering we're still afloat," Mayu chalked their position and drew a line between two points with a ruler, "don't ask me how. But at least that's good news for the Fire Nation."

"It wasn't good news for Tan," Yin tugged the wheel back into its original place, "or those children for that matter. How do you think they'll handle the memorial service?"

"Same as the other ones, I suspect," Mayu speculated with her eyes on the map, "set on pyres and floated out to sea. It's what they do for everyone who dies on the ocean."

"Hmm...shame he can't go out like he wanted to," Yin reminisced.

"He told you how he wanted his funeral to be?" Mayu perked up in curiosity, "I realise he was hardly a bundle of joy, but isn't that a little excessive?"

"No, no, he had a really good idea..." Yin smiled, "he wanted a pyre...same as everyone else...but, get this, he wanted his old drill sergeant to be used for firewood."

Mayu smiled back as Yin chortled at the idea. She added, "he really didn't like that person, did he?"

"Not from the impression I got, ma'am," Yin looked ahead with a smile on his face. A heavy silence followed. No one in the Fire Nation military ever really 'got used' to the death of comrades, but every soldier and sailor had a way of coping. Yin's smile faded, and the fresh-faced officer leant over the wheel, asking earnestly, "what do we tell his family?"

"_We _don't tell anyone anything, Lieutenant," Mayu leant back and tapped the table, "the Fire Navy has a procedure when it comes to events of an abnormal or 'spiritual' nature. 'Report to base', 'keep quiet' and 'have a cover story ready'. That way, people believe we actually _do _have a handle on what threatens the Fire Nation. To this day, every official account of the Siege of the North has blamed the defeat on adverse weather conditions."

"Looking up to see a dead moon is a bit of a giveaway, isn't it?" Yin questioned.

"I don't make the policy, Lieutenant, but I swore to uphold it and so have you," Mayu stood up from her seat, "we'll be heading into port soon, and as soon as we unload the passengers we'll be questioned to the sun and back about what happened yesterday. Usefully enough we not only have a useful cover story but a ready-made scapegoat. Isn't that right, Citizen Xuan!?"

A loud thumping could be heard against the bulkhead at the back of the bridge, emanating from the tiny storage cupboard adjacent to the room. Citizen Xuan was not taking kindly to his conditions, "_let me out of here! I have friends in high places! I'll have you thrown out of the Navy faster than you can blink!_"

"You can tell from the way he acts, he was always a loose cannon," Mayu spoke aside to Yin, "come along, sir! I once promised to throw you overboard without a lifebelt! I'd say being locked in a cupboard on the way to your trial is a step up in your prospects!"

"I didn't do anything!" Xuan's yells were muffled through the layer of metal, "those kids were dead when I got there! They were trying to kill me! And everyone else!"

"If they were already dead, then why did they try to kill you?" Mayu questioned in as neutral a tone as she could manage given the cruel hilarity of the treatment she was inflicting.

"There was something wrong with them! They were...giggling and...being really, really creepy!" Xuan shouted in exasperation, "you can't blame everything on me! I'm innocent! The magistrate will see that! All your evidence is circumstantial!"

"I would hardly call throwing a man out of a window 'circumstantial', sir," Mayu dutifully informed, "and ridiculous fantasy stories about possessed children are not going to endear you."

"Look at me! Do I look like the kind of man who could throw a grown naval officer out of a window!?" Xuan appealed.

"Going by that anecdote, exactly how do you expect a _child _to be able to throw a grown naval officer out of a window?" Mayu asked.

"But...I just said...!" Xuan stammered, "you've been planning this all along, haven't you!? You've always been contemptuous of my entrepreneurial genius, and now you've concocted the perfect conspiracy to undermine me!"

"Of course, I called on the spirits of the depths to drag this entire ship under in the hope of harming some non-entity's career prospects. Please, you're not worth the _effort_," Mayu dismissed, "just keep digging that hole for yourself, I'm sure you'll reach the Endless Sea eventually."

Mayu walked away from the bulkhead towards the compass set into the centre of the bridge, checking the direction against the time displayed on a clock on the other side of the room. Yin piped up, "so...we blame all the Mo Ce attacks on _him_?"

"Of course," Mayu confirmed, "he had the motive of desiring the lion's share of transportation control over the Mo Ce sea, but his lust for destruction grew so great that he turned towards his own ships as well. He traveled on other ships under an alias and spread a reign of terror. A show trial will rubber stamp the story and he'll spend the rest of his breaking rocks..." Mayu glanced at the clock again before glancing back at Yin, "...15 degrees starboard, Lieutenant."

"Aye..." Yin twisted the wheel to the right, looking at the Captain sceptically, "...but...that couldn't possibly have happened..."

"What do you want them to say? The truth?" Mayu questioned.

"...well...I guess not, ma'am..." Yin held uneasily to the wheel, "but someone will slip the truth sooner or later. _Everyone _knows about 'Zhao's Folly', after all."

"Conveniently enough, the only people who witnessed the attackers directly were fellow crew members," Mayu informed Yin, "I think we can trust them to keep quiet."

"What about Gameshin?" Yin tugged the wheel back once the ship had turned 15 degrees, "he's a civilian. And more to the point he shouldn't have been there."

"Indeed, to raise your ire so much, he must have been acting suspiciously," Mayu held her hands behind her back and walked up behind Yin, "but if it wasn't for him, we wouldn't be talking right now. That's reason enough for me to offer him the benefit of the doubt, so rather than 'silencing' him or whatever else you had planned just now, how about trying something different and giving him an incentive to stay silent?"

Yin didn't like where this conversation was leading, "you don't expect me to apologise, do you ma'am?"

"I won't make it an order, but I will leave it as some _very _strong advice," Mayu sidled over and placed a hand on the wheel, "I have the con, Lieutenant. You are relieved until 0900. You may use your time however you like."

Yin hesitated, but conceded defeat as he stepped away from the wheel and stood to attention, "yes, ma'am."

Lieutenant Yin walked out of the bridge and left Captain Mayu alone at the wheel. She looked out through the gap where the window had been, shaded from the early summer sun rising from behind the ship. It would be another clear summer day out as they docked into Naha. She smiled as she contemplated her options. She had avoided combat duty because of the pressures of the front line, but after all this, some good old ship combat and coastal bombardment might actually be a nice change of pace. Every day on the wide sea offered something new. That's why she loved it so much.

* * *

By this point, the final twists Shui was making to the valve were nothing more than limp wrist movements. As soon as she finished, she let the spanner drop from her fingers and clatter on the balcony. She was swaying and completely spent, but undeniably satisfied with a job well done. She smiled incoherently, "'s doooone..."

She swivelled around and flopped backwards against the wall next to Sokka, who was shaken awake by her collapsing over onto his shoulder. He was wrapped in a brown blanket, as many had been distributed amongst the crew thanks to the rampant hypothermia inflicted by being dunked in water so often. By now, they were being used by the engineering team to set up their own beds wherever they collapsed from working themselves too hard. The Engine Room was as close to being back to normal as they could be. Things burst and broke regularly, but most just ignored it. It was typical background noise to most of the engineers.

Sokka handed over a blanket, and Shui gratefully snuggled inside it, using Sokka as a living cushion. She breathed deeply, and found she couldn't really sleep. Sokka noticed her nascent restlessness and decided to strike up a conversation, "so you think it'll hold together until we get to port?"

"Sure," Shui spoke from _li _away, "'s all workin'. Nuthin' more ta do 'cept collapse an' die 'til we're called on ta do sumthin' else."

"That sounds like a nice idea," Sokka rolled his head back and forth across the wall of the Engine Room, lacking the energy to really raise it.

It lolled over to his left, where Wan had been moved to crouch in a corner, wrapped in a blanket while cradling the remains of his spanner and chanting "...I'm sorry..." endlessly. Sokka actually managed to rise his head forward to look at him.

"What d'you think they're gonna do for him?" Sokka wondered out loud. Shui peeked over Sokka to look at what he was talking about, and sighed.

"I heard they're gonna send 'im t'th' Yantai Institute," Shui told Sokka. Sokka looked back at the engineering monkey with interest.

"The Yantai Institute?" he asked aloud.

"Yeah," Shui answered, "they got th' finest minds in all medicine. If they can't find a cure, nuthin' can."

Sokka studied Wan's face. He wasn't looking at anything in particular, and just rocked back and forth continuously. The old man had pretty much lost it, very comprehensively at that. Sokka voiced his thoughts, "I never even thought he could be this...vulnerable. I didn't know him long, sure, but he was such a strong guy...a little crazy, but the good kind of crazy. Y'know? The kind you could grow to like when he wasn't shouting at you all the time."

"Yeah, well, I thought that too..." Shui reasoned, "but he never had nuthin' 'cept machines. His whole family jus' did machines. He couldn't help it. An' then sumthin' comes up an' machines don't seem so great no more. I think we could learn sumthin' from this. No clue what..."

"He went on about what humanity was, what it meant," Sokka theorised, "but y'know what? What's human? You, me...him. That's what's human. Us people. Not _that _thing," Sokka pointed contemptuously towards the God of Steel, humming rhythmically all by herself, "that's just a lump of metal."

"A lump'a metal that needs tender lovin' care," Shui relaxed on Sokka's shoulder. She pouted, "now Wan's gone mental, I finally got what I wanted. I c'n do anythin' now."

"What d'ya wanna do?" Sokka asked.

"See th' world inna tin box," Shui smiled, looking up with golden eyes at Sokka, "become a big famous engineer an' build things no one else c'n ever build. Now I got Wan t'do it fer, not jus' Mama 'n Papa."

"...yeah," Sokka mumbled, thinking about his own parents...his own mentors. Shui seemed to pick up on the momentary melancholy.

"Whaddabou' ya, Gam?" Shui asked with a wide smile, "whatcha wanna do?"

"Well..." Sokka evaded, "I'm just a passenger, really. I had somewhere to go before. I've still got that now."

A long pause allowed the sounds of the engine room to drift in, the steam hissing, the engineers cussing, the god's fuming, Wan's apologies to non-existent old gods, and the strange feeling that this was going to be the last time they would see each other. Shui's smile faded, wanting to stretch the moment on, "ye...ye c'n...come along with me...be part'a th' team?"

Sokka smiled and glanced back, "thanks, but...the thing I came for? The thing I have to do...I wish I could tell you about it but...it's probably one of the most important things I will _ever _do in my life and I can't walk away from it now. So...I'm sorry, but...I can't go with you." Shui's face fell, and she squeezed Sokka's shoulder in a last-ditch hope to make him reconsider. Sokka just looked her in the eyes and said, "and besides...I have someone else."

Shui's eyes fell. Crushed with disappointment. She slunk back and looked away from Sokka, sighing deeply, "...I see."

* * *

Yin walked up the rusty, dingy sections of the ship leading up to the Engine Room, preparing over again in his head what he should say. Apologising to people didn't come naturally to him, but he wasn't one to shirk responsibility. He paused at the door, steeled himself, and reached for the handle.

The door apparently didn't want him coming through since it burst open with little time to dodge before a red-clothed, blanketed bundle of limbs was thrown bodily onto the floor outside. A young female voice screamed at the top of her lungs, "_ya cheating, two-timing, self-centred 'lil pervert!_" The door thundered shut, and Yin was greatly amused to see Gameshin emerge from under the blanket wondering what had suddenly run over him. He winced as the door opened one more time and a blindly furious Shui rushed through and tore the blanket off of him, sending him spinning onto the cold metal floor. Shui shouted, "_an' gimme that blanket back! Ya creep!_"

The door slammed shut again, and a flustered Gameshin rose to his feet. Grumbling, he glared hatefully at the door, and then at Yin, who was looking for some kind of explanation. Gameshin clenched his fists and spat all the explanation Yin needed, "_...women!_"

Yin shrugged thoughtfully, "preaching to the choir, boy."

Gameshin held an infuriated finger to Yin's face, "if I have to hear one more religious allegory from _anyone _for the rest of this trip, I'm gonna throw 'em overboard!"

Gameshin stomped off without another word, disappearing down the corridor in a huff. Lieutenant Yin, still pleasantly surprised from this whole encounter, stood still and watched him go, calling after him as he vanished from view, "thank you for accepting my apology, Citizen Gameshin."

Funniest thing, the fresh-faced officer thought. It looks like this was worth the trip after all.

* * *

The Nagaoka port was stuffed with so much activity that the Rough Rhinos feared the roof would drift off from the collective breath of so many people stuffed into so small a space. This was an all-weather port, where a large, vaulted roof crossed the berth where two massive passenger ferries clustered next to each other. In the space in front of them were thousands of people rushing to and fro carrying luggage, passing from line to line, waiting to go in, waiting to go back out, and even around the edges were vast numbers of sellers and vendors passing over pamphlets, food, and other paraphernalia for their respective journeys, as many a young kid bounced up and down on their feet waiting impatiently for their parents to bestow them with snacky treats.

The Rough Commuters were far more used to Earth Kingdom levels of activity, with people spread out over large distances and ports used almost exclusively for tiny fishing fare. Even their cities were hardly concentrated. The soldiers were simply not accustomed to being somewhere where the broad mass of humanity was packed in so tightly together that you couldn't walk two steps without tripping over someone. Of course, this should have been something they anticipated. This was the Fire Nation home islands, after all. Some of the most densely populated land on the planet. They'd been in such places before, they just couldn't remember them being so...crowded.

Zuko didn't pay attention to such things. He had been in Ba Sing Se, and this was pretty much the same experience...just a whole country of it rather than a walled-off section. Both his golden eyes, clear and scarred, glanced fiercely around, hunting for clues in the crowd. This was the seventh port facility they'd investigated since yesterday, and everyone else was finding it tedious. Kachi dared to lean forward and suggest something to the Fire Prince, "y'know...Your Highness...maybe we can do something _other _than just...stare around a lot..."

"Checking the passenger logs is a waste of time. He'll be travelling under an alias," Zuko declared, "and even if he used the one I'm thinking of, there'll be a dozen 'Mushi's on every manifest. If he leaves a clue, he'll leave it elsewhere."

"That port operator in the last dock was kinda fishy-lookin' if you ask me," Ogedei grunted, cracking his knuckles, "maybe if we twisted the screws on him we might have found something."

"What is it with you and 'twisting screws', anyway?" Yeh-Lu reasoned from underneath his armour, "where didya get that from? 'cuz 'twisting screws'...well...you're not really a 'twisting screws' kinda guy. You're more of a 'beat them over the head until their brains can't remember what they're supposed to be hiding' kinda guy."

Ogedei furrowed his brow. This line of questioning never really occurred to him before, "hey! I guess you're right! So...what _is _a 'twisting screws' kinda guy?"

"Hmm..." Yeh-Lu considered, rubbing the chin of his visor with his glove. He looked aside, "of course! Vachir! He's all quiet and fierce, careful and methodical. He's _gotta_ be a 'twisting screws' kinda guy!"

"Silence, fiend," Vachir dismissed haughtily.

"Don't call me a..." Yeh-Lu began, before stopping in surprise. He tugged on Kachi's arm, "hey! Hey! Vachir just called me a 'fiend'!"

"That's great!" Kachi congratulated the demolition expert, "you just moved up the pecking order, m'boy!"

"Hey, I'm gonna see what comes next after 'infidel' first, y'know," Ogedei pointed to himself, "but I still say Vachir shoulda twisted the screws on that last guy."

"He seemed a pretty okay guy," Kachi shrugged, "he laughed at my jokes. That makes him pretty good in my book."

"See...that's the problem," Ogedei commented, "he shouldn't have laughed at your jokes. Y'know why? 'cuz you have _no sense of humour_. That's why you always screw up being tenor on 'The Bullfrog Eater's Tale'. Because you cannot be the tenor on 'The Bullfrog Eater's Tale' and not have a sense of humour."

"Oh? And you're such a class wit, are you? The one who thinks throwing people's foodsacks into the roach-tiger's gorge is the height of comedy?" Kachi accused.

"Are you accusing me of something, Kachi?" the brawler challenged the guan-do wielder.

"Seven months and you still haven't apologised?" Kachi challenged back, "yes, I'm accusing you of something!"

"It was me," Yeh-Lu butted in abruptly. Kachi's and Ogedei's heads swivelled.

"What?" Ogedei wondered, "_why?_"

"They were infested with burrow-mites. If I hadn't gotten rid of them, they would've hidden in our food and latched their eggs inside our skulls," Yeh-Lu blurted hurriedly, "but you were all so angry, I didn't want to admit it, so I kept my mouth shut."

"Oh..." Kachi leaned his head back to consider, snapping it back to smile at the explosives man "...good job!"

"Thanks!" Yeh-Lu felt pleased with himself. The conversation seemed to end suddenly with nothing more to say.

At that moment, Ogedei realised something, "heyyy...y'know what? The Colonel would've shut us up long, _long _before the conversation got this inane."

"You're right!" Kachi realised the same thing, which greatly disconcerted him. He looked over to Zuko, who would've been the natural stand-in for the authority figure who would turn around and shout 'be quiet!' to the Rough Roamers. But instead the Fire Prince did no such thing. He just stood there looking sullen and moody, peering the crowds for some clue to find Iroh. It really didn't help with the group dynamic _at all_. Something else crossed his mind, "and where _is _the Colonel anyway? Said something about following a lead and we haven't seen him since."

"You don't think he's in trouble, do you?" Yeh-Lu fretted.

"For Agni's sake, gentleman," the familiar, gruff, authoritative voice spoke up from behind them. They turned and, indeed, Colonel Mongke stood there in all his glory, his presence forming a crowd of his own to dispel the crowd around him. He admonished, "I leave you for one evening and you start acting like a bunch of babies crying after their mamas. Hate to think what would happen if I did something dumb like retire."

The Rough Pedestrians were lacking in witty comebacks to the Colonel, so it was left to Zuko to swing around and gaze determinedly at him, asking bluntly, "your lead, Colonel?"

The Colonel shrugged, "nothing, Your Highness. Turned out to be a completely different wise old guy with a mysterious past. You?"

"We're still investigating," Zuko looked aside, frustrated, "I might need your help in questioning witnesses."

"Hey, if you needed a bad cop, we're all _more _than sufficient to fill in!" Kachi waved at his fellow Rough Ramblers, who apart from Vachir nodded in unison. Zuko's condescendingly fierce glance put paid to that suggestion, and Kachi retreated.

Yeh-Lu pointed a thumb up earnestly, "I can be the good cop!" Zuko ignored him and concentrated on Mongke. Zuko had the wharf behind him, with various people walking off and on the boat at a rigorous pace.

"I need someone who can keep their eyes open for anything suspicious," Zuko commanded, "changes in background, changes in tone, anything."

Mongke nodded, understanding. Just at that moment, however, his brow furrowed as he saw something...someone, rather...wander onto the ship with a large pile of luggage being pulled by helpers behind him. He was dressed in a long, dark cloak, and his eyes were hidden under a large conical hat. All that he could see was a long, thin beard and moustache clinging to the part of his face that was visible. Mongke pointed aloud, "what about that guy for starters?"

Zuko turned quickly around. The man was stepping up the plank to a door inset halfway up the hull, handing his papers to a clerk at the door. The clerk, in Fire Navy uniform, checked the papers over and offered a friendly smile as he did so. The helper behind him was an elder, slim man, with bare arms and calves, pushing forward a large cart-load with some difficulty. Zuko queried while studying the man, "what is it about that man?"

The Colonel, when asked, found himself incapable of answering that question. It was just...something. Something buried deep that felt like razor wire every time he tried to prize it out. He just..."he just...seems familiar. That's all."

Zuko studied that half-hidden face. It actually seemed familiar to him too, but ultimately it was unimportant. Whether they'd seen the man around before in passing or not, he had nothing to do with Iroh. He dismissed Mongke's claim, "no, it doesn't help us." He turned away from the ship and began to walk away, "we'll double back. Maybe Uncle was trying to mislead us."

Mongke was reluctant to walk away, but ultimately he had to shake his feeling off and wander away. It was a silly detail to linger over. While the other Rough Wanderers picked themselves up to follow, the clerk completed stamping the mysterious man's papers and handed it back with a wide grin, "here you go, sir! And I hope you have a...hey!" The mysterious man had snatched the papers out of the clerk's hand and hurried inside without a second glance. The clerk looked inside the ship, feeling offended, "why the rotten cheek!"

"Tell me 'bout it!" the handler grunted as he pulled the luggage fitfully into the ship, "no one has any manners these days! You'd think with a war on people'd be more courteous to one another..."

"It's not like it's hard to do or anything..." the clerk whined, "I mean, just a few days ago, one of the passengers gave me advice on my marriage! He didn't _need _to do that. But life would be so much easier for everyone if people actually thought about _each other _for a change. ...I mean, he even _smelt _nicer than people usually do. I wonder how he did that..."

The clerk hadn't finished his sentence before a small jar of herbs was thrust into his face by a very intense, heavily scarred young man, demanding, "that man! Did he smell like this!?"

Taken aback by the question, the clerk hesitated before leaning forward and sniffing the jar. He was delightfully surprised by the scent, "sweet, fruity, but still retaining a familiar, woodsy texture to the taste...yeah! That's it exactly! ...say, if you know where I can get some..."

"Where did he go!?" Zuko asked the clerk sternly. The clerk was left a little disorientated from the severity of the questioning, but he drew back his eyeballs to think.

"I...believe...the ship was heading toooo...Naha Island?" the clerk answered uncertainly. Zuko stuffed the herbs quickly back into his pocket.

"Where's the next ship to Naha?" Zuko asked. The clerk was starting to wonder if he should be answering such questions, but Zuko's certainty brooked no second-guessing.

The clerk jabbed behind himself, looking at Zuko curiously, "next one's...two wharfs down I believe..."

"Colonel! We're going to Naha!" Zuko marched away without bye or leave, expecting the Rough Peoples to follow him. Mongke and his men were momentarily left stunned by the suddenness of their new lead, and for a while just watched the Fire Prince march ahead without a second thought or hesitation.

As much as it was something to admire, the Colonel swerved around, clamped his hands together and bowed to the clerk, "thank you very kindly for your co-operation, good Citizen!"

"You're welcome! Now see? That wasn't so hard, was it?" the clerk remarked to the soldiers, who had now turned tail and ran after their commanding royal. The clerk sighed at being ignored again.

"Well," the handler opined, "at least they made an effort..."

* * *

Aang leant over the side of the _Gang Shen_, staring out at the passing horizon. He could feel the breeze rushing through his hair and making a prickling sensation on his scalp. He liked it. He could keep feeling it all day. It felt so good to..._feel_. The deck was largely deserted. Most were either too scared or two tired to venture up on deck now. The morning water was smooth and silvery, and the ship sliced through it effortlessly. Apart from the chug of the God of Steel, buried deep beneath the decks, it was remarkably quiet. He could hear Katara's footsteps approaching from the other side of the deck.

"One shiny Fire Nation Shu for your thoughts?" Katara leant on the railings next to Aang. Aang smiled at the disguised waterbender.

"I was just thinking..." Aang considered, "this is my first real trip across a the sea on a steamer and I was unconscious for most of it. I think I should get my money back. Whaddya you think?"

"I dunno," Katara shrugged with an indulgent smile of her own, "what would you have done if you weren't unconscious?"

"Oh, _loads _of things! This ship's just _packed _with possibilities!" Aang leant back to grip the railing with both hands excitedly, "just take this, for instance. A railing going alllll the way around the ship. All you need to do? Climb on it and start running. You could make a complete lap on this thing."

"Even without bending?" Katara asked sceptically.

"_Especially _without bending," Aang stressed, "you can't use bending on this thing! That'd be cheating! I mean...sheesh! Oh hey, speaking of that! That would've been fun to do, with Nandi and the gang. Each one jumps up, one at a time. Whoever runs around the whole ship fastest wins. _I'll _keep count, obviously. You can trust an Avatar to be impartial."

"Yeah...except what happens when they fall off?" Katara pointed out.

"Easy! You can just bend them back up onto the deck!" Aang grinned at Katara pleasingly.

"That'd make us pretty conspicuous, wouldn't it?" Katara slyly smiled back.

"_Details, details!_" Aang dismissed with a hand wave. He laughed as he gripped the railing, but soon the smile became faint, and he looked wistfully at the length of wire between his hands. He spoke softly, "yeah...that would've been the greatest..."

Katara grew concerned, and slid over to Aang, placing a hand on his shoulder. He took this as a cue to throw his arms around Katara and bury his head in her waist, sniffling with tears. Katara cradled his head and comforted him, close to tears herself but keeping herself in check. She just softly stroked the Avatar's short hair, which was developing a messy fuzziness.

"I just wanted it to stop..." Aang cried into Katara's waist, "all the pain...all the joy...all the love...all the hate...all the grief...I just wanted it to stop...and I nearly did. I nearly...stopped."

"It's okay, Aang...it's okay..." the waterbender comforted the boy. Aang sniffed up and stepped back from Katara, looking up with calmer eyes, still full of tears.

"I know it now...I know why I need to keep going..." Aang's voice croaked, but as he promised, he kept going, "this is what life is. Life is love, and hate, and joy and grief. It's what I am, and it's what I have to protect...I know that now..."

"...but it still hurts, right?" Katara asked. Aang nodded, and stepped in to be cradled by Katara. Her presence soothed him, and he smiled gently. "That means you're alive," Katara told the boy. He couldn't think of himself as dead anymore. Scar or no scar, death or no death, he was alive now, and that's all that mattered.

His eyes drifted down towards the silvery water. He could see his reflection...this strange reflection of a boy in red clothes and fuzzy hair. That silvery waterfall from before, which he could see his reflection in, that was not for him. It reflected into him. He existed to serve it. He knew that now. He smiled at himself.

Out the water came a massive splash and crash as something leapt out of the water at the edge of the vessel and back in again. Aang's eyes lit up. Joyfully, he broke free of Katara's grasp and leant excitedly over the edge. Katara found that she was hugging thin air and looked over at Aang abruptly, asking "what is it!? What did you see!?"

"_Terrapin-sharks!_" Aang shook the railings in ecstatic happiness. The water burst up again, and two more of the finned, shelled, sharp-toothed sea creatures leapt out of the water and back in again, hugging the hull as they beat their way forward towards the prow. Katara smiled as much at Aang's reaction as the wondrous creatures she'd never seen before. Aang laughed with the happy, "okay, okay, Katara! Before I forget, I gotta tell you. I _have _to ride one of those things someday!"

"Why d'you always have to _ride _things?" Katara gleamed at the last of the Air Nomads, who was already running forward faster than Katara could keep up, "hey! Wait up!"

"What am I gonna do!? Play cards with hogmonkeys!?" Aang called back, running full tilt to catch the terrapin-sharks as they swam forward. Laughing the whole way, Katara joined in even as she ran out of breath trying to catch up with the boy running the length of the vast ship. No one would've guessed that he was dead only three weeks ago. He looked more alive than ever.

He reached the prow and thwacked himself against it, leaning over to catch the terrapin-sharks as they clustered around the bow of the _Gang Shen_. There were dozens of them, leaping over each other to swim faster. Aang laughed, but made the mistake of looking up at where they were headed, and his laughter died out.

Ahead was an island, the edges craggy and fierce, stretching almost to the edges of the horizon. They were very close to the entrance of a large bay, inside which was all manner of docks and towns, streaking smoke into the sky at regular intervals. Across the entrance to the bay was a metal arc, adorned with an ornate symbol: three dragons snaking around the frighteningly familiar symbol of the Fire Nation...the bead-shaped flame. They had arrived at their destination.

"I have no idea what it is you're looking at, but I'm gonna guess it ain't good?" Toph asked. Aang jerked suddenly at hearing Toph's voice right next to him, and discovered that she was standing at the prow as well, with Momo on her shoulder and holding Sokka's hand. For some reason, she looked imperious despite having these two handicaps.

"What are you doing up here?" Aang asked impertinently. Toph smiled deliciously.

"Where else should I be? I _own _this ship, remember?" Toph claimed. Sokka, right next to her, made a whirring motion with his finger next to his head, which drew some mirth from Aang. Realising she was being the butt of a cruel joke, Toph grew irritated and shooed Aang back, "hey...get back. This is _my _ship, not yours."

Aang obliged, just as Katara finally caught up with him. Her smile disappeared too, and an uncertain and scared hand rested on the Avatar's shoulders. It was an untimely reminder of what else rested on his shoulders, and he looked ahead, as did all of them (in their own ways) at their approaching destination.

The _Gang Shen _passed under the metal arc, and from that moment they were, completely and undeniably, within the unbreakable clasp of the Fire Nation. The dragons and flame above, the symbol of everything that had brought unbalance to this world, this was what needed fixing. Right here, at the source, did the future lay. They all sailed into their futures, as blind as each other. All they had to cling on to was the knowledge that they were doing what they had to do.

**End of Chapter 3**

**Do you wish to save? **(Y)es. (N)o.

**Insert Chapter 4 to continue...**

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**Author's Note: **I love the people on fan fiction dot net, but I _really hate _fan fiction dot net itself. You know why? I had this really lengthy, heartfelt thanks to everyone who read this, and it got lost because the damn thing asked me to log in again. The technology running this joke of a website is _ancient_. Why hasn't it been superseded yet? And it's doing weird things to keep me from saying 'fan fiction dot net'.

Anyway, I just wanted to say that when I said I'd be taking a break...I meant a really, _really_ long break. As in...lengthy enough to question whether it would be worthwhile to continue this thing with the real Book 3 just around the corner. If this 100,000-word story alone were turned into a published paperback on a Waterstones bookshelf, it would be more than 420 pages long. But then...near the end at any rate...I really enjoyed writing this. The story just came alive beneath my fingertips and I couldn't stop typing. So I'll be sad to be away from it...but I_ need _to. It's sucking me away from my dissertation work and I _need_ to concentrate on that.

That said, I just wanted to thank you all for reading, and for sticking with this thing all this time. Just being read made it all worthwhile.


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